Method and apparatus for building vocabulary skills and improving accuracy and fluency in critical thinking and abstract reasoning

ABSTRACT

System and method for developing cognitive skills in a student, utilizing a computing device to present stimuli and to record responses. A stimulus may be graphically presented to the student via the computing device, and the student may be required to respond to the stimulus. A determination may then be made as to the correctness of the student&#39;s response. The graphically presenting, requiring, and determining may be performed for each of a plurality of stimuli. Additionally, the graphically presenting, requiring, determining, and performing may be performed in an iterative manner to improve the cognitive skills of the student. Various exercises directed to different cognitive skills and learning approaches may utilize this basic framework, and may be performed in an iterative manner to build cognitive skills in the student.

PRIORITY CLAM

This application claims benefit of priority of U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 60/688,985 titled “Method and Apparatus forDeveloping Cognitive Skills”, filed Jum. 9, 2005, whose inventors wereLogan E. De Ley, Williams M. Jenkins, Virginia A. Mann, Terri Matter andSteven L. Miller, and which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety as though fully and completely set forth herein.

This application also claims benefit of priority of U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 60/804,282 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FORDEVELOPING COGNITIVE SKILLS, filed Jun. 9, 2006, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety as though fully and completelyset forth herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of cognitive development, andmore particularly to a system and method for improving cognitive skillsin children.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

The present application relates to a computer software program entitled“Fast ForWord to Reading 5” developed by Scientific LearningCorporation. Founded in 1996, Scientific Learning (Nasdaq: SCIL)combines the latest advances in brain research and proprietarytechnology to create products and services that develop learning andcommunication skills. Based on more than 30 years of neuroscienceresearch, Scientific Learning's Fast ForWord® family of products usepatented technology to target the language and reading skills widelyrecognized as the keys to all learning. Each product's interactiveexercises integrate proprietary CD-ROM and Internet technology to createan optimal learning environment that adapts to the level of eachstudent. Patented Web-based tracking tools provide ongoing monitoring ofeach student's progress. In March of 1997, after an extensive fieldtrial with almost 500 children at 35 sites, the Company launched itsfirst Fast ForWord® product, Fast ForWord Language software, an Internetand CD-ROM product that develops the fundamental language skills thatare the building blocks for reading success. The product is described inthe following U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,988 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FORTRAINING OF SENSORY AND PERCEPTUAL SYSTEMS IN LLI SUBJECTS”; U.S. Pat.No. 6,159,014 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRAINING OF COGNITIVEAND MEMORY SYSTEMS IN HUMANS”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,101 entitled“METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COGNITIVE TRAINING OF HUMANS USING ADAPTIVETIMING OF EXERCISES”; each of which is hereby incorporated by referencefor all purposes. Numerous other patents have been issued to ScientificLearning Corporation for its inventions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments of a system and method for building vocabularyskills and improving accuracy and fluency in critical thinking andabstract reasoning by working with important semantic/grammaticalrelationships among words are presented.

In a first task or stage, the student may be required to completeanalogies in a cloze task format where one of four terms of a presentedanalogy is missing. In a second task or stage, the student may rereadthe completed analogies, and sort them based on the type of analogicalrelationship illustrated or represented.

For example, in the first stage of the exercise, an analogy setincluding a plurality of analogies may be provided. An incompleteanalogy may be presented to the student via a computing device, wherethe analogy is missing a word. A plurality of words may then bepresented to the student, where one of the plurality of words includesthe missing word of the incomplete analogy. The student may then berequired to select a word from the plurality of words to complete theincomplete analogy, after which a determination may be made as towhether the student selected the word correctly. In some embodiments, anindication may be provided as to whether the selected word is correct.For example, indicating if the selected word is correct may include oneor more of: presenting a respective sound indicating correctness orincorrectness of the selected word, presenting a respective graphicalindication of correctness or incorrectness of the selected word, andawarding points based on the correctness of the selected word. In someembodiments, sounds may be presented to the student via headphonesattached to the computing device, although, of course, speakers may beused instead of, or in addition to, the headphone. The displaying, thepresenting, the requiring, and the determining may be performed for eachanalogy in the analogy set to build vocabulary skills and improveaccuracy and fluency in critical thinking and abstract reasoning in thestudent.

In one embodiment, the plurality of analogies may include analogies inmultiple categories, and the method may further include displaying asubset of the multiple categories to the student, and receiving userinput selecting a category, e.g., a first category, from the subset. Theabove displaying, presenting, requiring, and determining performed foreach analogy in the analogy set may include performing a specifiednumber of trials with respect to analogies in the selected, e.g., thefirst, category. Once trials with respect to the selected category arecompleted, the subset of the multiple categories may be displayed(again) to the student, but with previously selected categoriesunavailable for selection, e.g., grayed out on the display. User inputselecting a second category from the subset may then be received, and aspecified number of trials with respect to analogies in the secondcategory performed. This selection and performance may continue untilthe trials in each of the presented categories have been completed,i.e., until the unit is done, after which a new subset of categories maybe presented, and so forth. In other words, the displaying, thereceiving user input, and the performing, may be performed forsuccessive categories from the multiple categories until trials for eachof the multiple categories have been completed, thereby performing aunit in stage 1 of the exercise.

In preferred embodiments, the analogy set may be included in a pluralityof analogy sets, and the performing described above may be repeated foreach analogy set in the plurality of analogy sets. Note that thedisplaying, the presenting, the requiring, and the determining for eachanalogy compose performing a trial for each analogy. Moreover, as usedherein, a unit includes a smallest group of trials to be evaluated foradvancement. Passing the unit refers to the student correctly completinga specified percentage of the analogies in the unit. In one embodiment,passing the unit may further include passing a specified percentage ofanalogies in each of a set of categories in the unit. Each analogy setfrom the plurality of analogy sets may be associated with a unitdirected to analogies from the analogy set, where the repeating theperforming for each analogy set in the plurality of analogy sets mayinclude performing trials in each unit of a plurality of units for eachlevel of a plurality of levels.

As used herein, an open unit refers to a unit that has not been passed,where all units are initially open units. Thus, performing trials ineach unit of a plurality of units for each level of a plurality oflevels includes performing trials in each open unit of the plurality ofunits for each level of the plurality of levels.

In preferred embodiments, if the student fails a unit, the unit may berepeated until the student passes the unit, or the student fails theunit a specified number of times. If the student fails the unit aspecified number of times, the unit may be kept open for laterpresentation to the student, and a next open unit performed (unlessthere are no further units to perform).

As noted above, in some embodiments, the exercise may include a secondstage, i.e., stage 2, directed to analogy categorization, where, in oneembodiment, an analogy may be displayed to the student via the computingdevice, where the analogy has a category from a plurality of categories.A set of categories, e.g., from the plurality of categories, may bepresented to the student, where one of the set of categories is thecategory of the analogy. The student may then be required to select acategory for the analogy from the set of categories. A determination maythen be made as to whether the student selected the category correctly.The displaying the analogy, the presenting the set of categories, therequiring the student to select a category, and the determining if thestudent selected the category correctly may be performed for eachanalogy in the analogy set, where the performing builds vocabularyskills and improves accuracy and fluency in critical thinking andabstract reasoning in the student.

As noted above, in preferred embodiments, the analogy set may beincluded in a plurality of analogy sets. The performing the displayingthe analogy, the presenting the set of categories, the requiring thestudent to select a category, and the determining if the studentselected the category correctly may be repeated for each of at least asubset of analogy sets in the plurality of analogy sets.

For example, the displaying the analogy, the presenting the set ofcategories, the requiring the student to select a category, and thedetermining if the student selected the category correctly composeperforming a trial in stage 2, and the displaying an incomplete analogyvia a computing device, the presenting a plurality of words to thestudent, the requiring the student to select a word from the pluralityof words to complete the incomplete analogy, and the determining if thestudent selected the word correctly compose performing a trial instage 1. Each analogy set from the plurality of analogy sets may beassociated with a unit directed to analogies from the analogy set. Therepeating the performing the displaying the analogy, the presenting theset of categories, the requiring the student to select a category, andthe determining if the student selected the category correctly for eachof at least a subset of analogy sets in the plurality of analogy setsmay include performing trials with respect to analogies from immediatelypreviously passed units of stage 1 at a level greater than a specifiedlevel. For example, in one embodiment, after each unit in stage 1 at alevel of 2 or greater is passed, then the analogies for that unit may beused to perform trials (e.g., 20 trials) in stage 2, after which thenext open unit in stage 1 may be performed, and so forth. Thus, afterlevel 1, the exercise may involve performing trials for each unit instage 1 and stage 2 in an alternating fashion.

In one embodiment, the performing the displaying, the presenting, therequiring, and the determining for each analogy in the analogy set maybe repeated in an iterative manner to build vocabulary skills andimprove accuracy and fluency in critical thinking and abstract reasoningin the student. For example, the repeating the performing may beperformed over a plurality of sessions, where each successive sessionbegins approximately where a previous session ends, and where thesessions may occur a specified number times each day, for a specifiednumber of days, e.g., possibly over day, weeks, or even months.

In preferred embodiments, the displaying, the presenting, and therequiring may be performed via a graphical user interface (GUI)displayed on a display of the computing device. For example, the GUI maydisplay a student indicator, a time indicator, an initiation button,whereby the student invokes performing a unit, and/or a score indicator.In one embodiment, the GUI may further display a main character, wherethe main character performs the presentation of the analogy. Secondarycharacters may also be displayed, e.g., and may present the words and/oranalogy categories for selection by the student.

Thus, various embodiments of the present invention may build vocabularyskills and improving accuracy and fluency in critical thinking andabstract reasoning in a student.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained when thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment is consideredin conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a personal computing device upon whichembodiments of the invention may operate;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer network upon which embodimentsof the invention may operate;

FIG. 3 is a table illustrating exercises included in various embodimentsof the invention;

FIG. 4 is a high-level flowchart diagram of a method for improvingcognitive skills in a student, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of a top-level exercise invocation screen,according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a high-level flowchart of a method for building accuracy andfluency in phonemic analysis, decoding, and spelling via a computingdevice, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary introductory screenshot from a phoneme sortingtask of the Wood Works exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an exemplary screenshot of a trial from the phoneme sortingtask of the Wood Works exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a high-level flowchart of another method for building accuracyand fluency in phonemic analysis, decoding, and spelling via a computingdevice, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary introductory screenshot from a spelling patternsorting task of the Wood Works exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 11 and 12 are exemplary screenshots of a trial from the spellingpattern sorting task of the Wood Works exercise, according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 13 is a detailed flowchart diagram illustrating progression throughthe Wood Works exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a high-level flowchart of a computer-implemented method forbuilding vocabulary skills and improving accuracy and fluency incritical thinking and abstract reasoning by working with importantsemantic/grammatical relationships among words in an analogy completiontask, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary screenshot of a screen for selecting from amonga plurality of analogy types for performing trials in the Gator Jamexercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 16 is an exemplary introductory screenshot from an analogycompletion task in the Gator Jam exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 17 and 18 are exemplary screenshots illustrating a trial in theanalogy completion task of the Gator Jam exercise, according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 19 is a high-level flowchart of a computer-implemented method forbuilding vocabulary skills and improving accuracy and fluency incritical thinking and abstract reasoning by working with importantsemantic/grammatical relationships among words in an analogycategorization task, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 20 and 21 are exemplary screenshots illustrating a trial in theanalogy categorization task of the Gator Jam exercise, according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 22 is a detailed flowchart diagram illustrating progression throughthe Gator Jam exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 23 is a high-level flowchart of a computer-implemented method forbuilding accuracy and fluency in recognizing and constructing sentencestructures, varying in the use of inflections and grammatical forms,according to one embodiment;

FIG. 24 is an exemplary screenshot of an introductory screen for theToad Loader exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 25-29 are exemplary screenshots illustrating trials in the ToadLoad exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 30 is a detailed flowchart illustrating progression through theGator Jam exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 31 is a high-level flowchart of a computer-implemented method forbuilding skills in accurate text comprehension and the use ofcomprehension strategies, when reading fiction and nonfiction texts thatinclude literary structures and devices, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 32 is an exemplary screenshot of an introductory screen for theLana's Lanes exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 33-35 are exemplary screenshots illustrating trials in stage 1 ofthe Lana's Lanes exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 36 and 37 are exemplary screenshots illustrating question/responsetrials in a strategy task in stage 2 of the Lana's Lanes exercise,according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 38 and 39 are exemplary screenshots illustrating trials in anotherstrategy task in stage 2 of the Lana's Lanes exercise, according to oneembodiment;

FIGS. 40-43 are exemplary screenshots illustrating progression throughtrials directed to another strategy task, e.g., including a diagramcompletion task, in stage 2 of the Lana's Lanes exercise, according toone embodiment;

FIGS. 44-49 are exemplary screenshots illustrating progression throughtrials directed to a further strategy task, e.g., including a graphicorganizer completion task directed to a table, in stage 2 of the Lana'sLanes exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 50-53 are exemplary screenshots illustrating progression throughtrials directed to a further strategy task, e.g., including a graphicorganizer completion task directed to a concept web, in stage 2 of theLana's Lanes exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 54 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating a trial in stage 3,directed to use of the concept web of FIG. 53, according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 55 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating a trial in stage 2 ofthe Lana's Lane exercise, where the incomplete graphic organizer is atimeline/flowchart, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 56-59 are exemplary screenshots illustrating trial interactions ina stage 2 “choose a summary” strategy task of the Lana's Lane exercise,according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 60 and 61 are exemplary screenshots illustrating trialinteractions in stage 3 directed to the (correct) summary of FIG. 59,according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 62-68 are exemplary screenshots illustrating trial interactions ina “build a summary” strategy task of stage 2 in the Lana's Laneexercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 69 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating a stage 3 trialinteraction directed to the completed summary of FIGS. 62-68, accordingto one embodiment;

FIGS. 70A and 70B present a detailed flowchart illustrating progressionthrough the Lana's Lanes exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 71 is a high-level flowchart of a computer-implemented method forbuilding in constructing and organizing multiple-paragraph stories andexpository passages, including skills in understanding and usingfigurative language, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 72 is an exemplary introductory screenshot from a paragraphbuilding task in the Quack Splash exercise, according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 73-76 are exemplary screenshots illustrating progression through aparagraph building task in the Quack Splash exercise, according to oneembodiment;

FIGS. 77-78 are exemplary screenshots illustrating progression through aparagraph completion (cloze) task in the Quack Splash exercise,according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 79-81 are exemplary screenshots illustrating progression through atext passage construction task in the Quack Splash exercise, accordingto one embodiment;

FIGS. 82-83 are exemplary screenshots illustrating a comprehension taskdirected to the completed passage of FIGS. 79-81, according to oneembodiment; and

FIG. 84 is a detailed flowchart diagram illustrating progression throughthe Quack Splash exercise, according to one embodiment.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description theretoare not intended to limit the invention to the particular formdisclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1—Computer System

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary computer system 100 for executing acomputer program (or computer programs) to train or retrain a student,according to embodiments of the present invention. The computer system100 contains a computer 102, having a CPU, memory, hard disk and CD ROMdrive (not shown), attached to a monitor 104. The monitor 104 mayprovide visual prompting and feedback to the student during execution ofthe computer program.

As shown, attached to the computer 102 are a keyboard 105, speakers 106,a mouse 108, and headphones 110. The speakers 106 and the headphones 110may provide auditory prompting and feedback to the student duringexecution of the computer program. The mouse 108 may allow the studentto navigate through the computer program, and to select particularresponses after visual or auditory prompting by the computer program.The keyboard 105 may allow an instructor (or a student) to enteralphanumeric information about the student into the computer 102.Embodiments of the present invention may execute on either IBMcompatible computers or Macintosh computers, although it should be notedthat any computer platforms are contemplated as applicable to thepresent invention.

The computer system 100 may include a memory medium(s) on which one ormore computer programs or software components according to oneembodiment of the present invention may be stored. For example, thememory medium may store one or more programs which are executable toperform the methods described herein. The memory medium may also storeoperating system software, as well as other software for operation ofthe computer system.

Now referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary computer network 200 is shown. AsFIG. 2 indicates, the computer network 200 includes computers 202 and204, which may be similar to that described above with reference to FIG.1, connected to a server 206. The connection between the computers 202,204 and the server 206 may be made via a local area network (LAN), awide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, or via modem connections,directly or through the Internet. A printer 208 is shown connected tothe computer 202 to illustrate that a student can print out reportsassociated with the computer program(s) of the present invention. Thecomputer network 200 may allow information such as test scores, exercisestatistics, and other student information to flow from a student'scomputer 202 and/or 204 to a server 206. An administrator may review theinformation and can then download configuration and control informationpertaining to a particular student to the student's computer 202 and/or204.

FIG. 3: Overview of Exemplary Exercises

One embodiment of the present invention comprises a system and methodfor improving cognitive skills of students, such as fundamentalcognitive skills related to memory, attention, processing, andsequencing (MAPS), foundational reading skills such as phonemicawareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, asidentified by the National Reading Panel, and may cover specificacademic skills that 5^(th) graders are expected to master.

Note that the invention emphasizes the kinds of advanced comprehensionand vocabulary skills students need to master written material acrossthe curriculum at the 5^(th) grade level. For example, extensivepractice in analyzing the meanings of words with common Latin and Greekroots is provided. Students may also learn to attend to syntacticstructures and signal words in order to grasp the organization andmeaning of complex sentences and passages. Advanced practice inspelling, decoding, and phonemic analysis may also be provided to helpstudents gain automaticity with word forms and thus shift more of theirattention from decoding to comprehension.

More specifically, embodiments of the present invention may emphasize:metacognitive understanding of word and text meaning, critical thinkingat the sentence and paragraph level, comprehension strategies (graphicorganizers and summaries), tasks that build writing skills along withreading comprehension (construction of grammatical sentences andconstruction of well organized paragraphs and passages), exercisingvocabulary skills through analogies and other approaches, figurativelanguage and literary devices, longer fiction and non-fiction passages(longest passage is around 4000 words), and systematic use of academicvocabulary from multiple content areas (e.g., science, math, socialstudies) as well as passages with science and humanities themes

As noted above, the present invention preferably includes a number ofprogram exercises, each of which is directed at training particularcognitive skills. FIG. 3 provides an overview of exemplary exercisesthat may be included in the present invention. As FIG. 3 indicates, inthis embodiment, the exercises include:

Wood Works: A spelling/decoding exercise that: develops memory byrequiring the student to use long-term recall for spelling and to useworking memory to remember the target word; that develops attention byrequiring the student to exercise selective attention; and that developsprocessing by requiring the student to process both auditory and visualinformation. The goal of this exercise is to build accuracy and fluencyin phonemic analysis, decoding, and spelling by working with multiplespelling patterns for phonemes.

Gator Jam: A vocabulary/critical thinking exercise that: develops memoryby requiring the student to exercising long-term memory for vocabularyand working memory for comparing words; that develops attention byrequiring the student to selectively attend to various linguisticdimensions; that develops processing by requiring the student to developfluent access to multiple relationships among words; and that developssequencing skills by requiring the student to recognize directionalityof word relationships. The goal of this exercise is to build vocabularyskills and improve accuracy and fluency in critical thinking andabstract reasoning by working with important semantic/grammaticalrelationships among words.

Lana's Lanes: A passage comprehension exercise that: develops memory byrequiring the student to use working memory for sentence comprehensionand to build text-level representations in long-term memory; thatdevelops attention by requiring the student to selectively attend tocritical information and to sustain attention across longer passages andquestion sets; that develops processing by requiring the student todevelop fluency in extracting and integrating meaning from longer textpassages; and that develops sequencing skills by requiring the studentto recognize causal and temporal event sequences in texts. The goal ofthis exercise is to build skills in accurate text comprehension and theuse of comprehension strategies, when reading fiction and nonfictiontexts that include literary structures and devices.

Quack Splash: A passage comprehension exercise that: develops memory byrequiring the student to use working memory to hold words and sentencesin memory while completing or reorganizing paragraphs; that developsattention by requiring the student to sustain attention across multiplesteps to accurately complete a longer passage; that develops processingby requiring the student to use language skills to process grammar andmeaning; and that develops sequencing skills by requiring the student torecognize and correct the serial order of scrambled sentences andparagraphs. The goal of this exercise is to build skills in constructingand organizing multiple-paragraph stories and expository passages,including skills in understanding and using figurative language.

Toad Loader: A sentence comprehension exercise that: develops memory byrequiring the student to use working memory to keep track of availablewords and phrases while constructing possible sentences; that developsattention by requiring the student to selectively attend to grammaticalfeatures of words and phrases; that develops processing by requiring thestudent to use language processing skills to identify written words andphrases and to construct and analyze possible sentences; and thatdevelops sequencing skills by requiring the student to manipulate wordorder to build a variety of grammatical sentences. The goal of thisexercise is to build accuracy and fluency in recognizing andconstructing sentences by manipulating grammatical forms andinflections.

Each of these exercises, which will be described below in detail,follows a common scheme, described below with respect to FIG. 4.

FIG. 4—Method for Developing Cognitive Skills

FIG. 4 is a flowchart diagram of a method for developing cognitiveskills, according to some embodiments of the invention. It should benoted that in various embodiments, some of the method elements describedmay be performed concurrently, in a different order than described, ormay be omitted. Additional method elements may be performed as desired.As FIG. 4 shows, the method may be performed as follows:

In 402, a stimulus, e.g., a next stimulus from a plurality of stimuli,i.e., may be graphically presented to a student, e.g., a child student.For example, depending on the particular exercise being performed, thestimulus may be or include a textual story, passage, sentence orsentence fragment, word, phoneme, and so forth. In some cases, an imagemay also be presented that corresponds or relates to the textualstimulus.

In 404, the student's response to the stimulus may be recorded. Forexample, after the stimulus has been presented, the student may bepresented with a number of possible responses, one of which ispreferably the correct, or at least the most correct, response to thepresented stimulus, the others being alternate (and incorrect) answers,referred to as foils. The student may select one of the responses, e.g.,via a pointing device, such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, or even via atouch-screen, as desired, and the selected response recorded. In someembodiments, the stimulus and/or the responses may be compound. Forexample, as will be described below in detail, in some cases (e.g.,exercises), a text story or passage may be presented to the user (i.e.,the student) as a stimulus, and then one or more additional orsubordinate stimuli may be presented, e.g., questions regarding thepresented story or passage (or other sub-stimulus). In one embodiment,the student may respond to each of the additional stimuli (e.g.,sub-stimuli), for example, as (just after) each sub-stimulus ispresented, although in other embodiments, the user may provide multipleresponses to a stimulus contiguously.

In 406, a determination may be made as to whether the response iscorrect, i.e., whether the student selected or indicated the correctresponse to the presented stimulus. Note that while in most cases thisdetermination may be made after each response, in some cases orembodiments, multiple responses may be recorded and then thedetermination made for each of the multiple recorded responses.

In some embodiments, an indication may be provided to the student as towhether the selected response was correct. As one example, if thestudent responds correctly, a “ding” may be played indicating thecorrectness of the response, whereas if the student respondsincorrectly, a “thunk” may be played, indicated the incorrectness of theresponse. In addition, are alternatively, a graphical indication may beprovided, e.g., an image or short animation indicating the correctnessor incorrectness of the response. In some embodiments, points may beawarded based on the performance of the student. As indicated above, thevarious audial indications may be presented to the student via speakersor headphones coupled to the computing system.

As indicated in 407, a determination may be made as to whether there arefurther stimuli to present to the student, and if so, the method mayproceed to method element 402 and continue as described above. If thereare no further stimuli, the method may proceed to method element 409.

Note that the above described graphically presenting (402), recordingresponse (404), and determining (406) for each of the plurality ofstimuli may span multiple exercises, such as those described generallyabove, and in detail below. In other words, the method is not limited toperformance of any single exercise, but rather, performance of allexercises included in the program is contemplated, possibly overmultiple sessions.

In 409, a determination may be made as to whether there are moreiterations to be performed, i.e., whether further repetitions of theexercises already performed (e.g., all the exercises) are to be made.

If further iterations are to be performed, then in 410, the stimuli maybe reset, and the method may proceed to method element 402 and continueas described above. If there are no further iterations to perform, themethod may terminate, as indicated in 412. In other words, the methodmay proceed with the exercises described herein (or functionalequivalents) in an iterative manner, preferably over a series ofsessions spanning days, weeks, or even months. Such repetition mayfacilitate effective development of cognitive skills in the student.Note that in preferred embodiments, the stimuli for a given exercise maybe presented in a different order, e.g., randomly, each time thatexercise is performed.

Note that in the exercises described herein, each stimulus/responsecycle is referred to as a trial. In other words, the displaying,presenting, requiring, and determining for each stimulus word composeperforming a trial for each stimulus word. Trials may be grouped intounits, which may be evaluated to determine the student's progressionthrough the exercise. A unit is a smallest group of trials to beevaluated for advancement, and passing the unit comprises the studentcorrectly sorting a specified percentage of the stimulus words in theunit. An open unit refers to a unit that has not been passed. An openlevel (i.e., an open progression level) refers to a level that has notbeen completed. All units are initially open units, and all levels areinitially open levels. Each exercise generally includes performingtrials in each unit of a plurality of units for each level of aplurality of levels (or a single level). Thus, performing trials in eachunit of a plurality of units for each level of a plurality of levelsincludes performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of openunits for each open level of the plurality of open levels. Moreover,some of the exercises may include multiple tasks, and multiple levels,which the student must perform to complete the exercise. For example, inone embodiment, respective subsets of the plurality of levels may beassociated with performance of respect tasks. Similarly, in someembodiments, respective subsets of the plurality of levels may beassociated with the difficulty of stimulus words in units of the level,e.g., easy and hard vocabulary words.

Exercises

Referring to FIG. 5, an exemplary startup screen 500 for the program isshown. As mentioned above, in the embodiment described herein, theprogram includes five exercises, with the respective exercises beinginvocable from the startup screen 500 via illustrative icons orgraphemes 502. As may be seen, the exercises invocable from the startupscreen 500 include: Wood Works, Gator Jam, Lana's Lanes, Quack Splash,and Toad Loader. While the embodiments of the exercises described hereinare directed to the English language, other languages are alsocontemplated, as the techniques and methods described herein are broadlyapplicable to development of cognitive reading skills (and more generalcognitive skills) in any language.

As shown, the startup screen 500 contains a cursor, or selection tool504, and an exit button 506. Although not shown, when the screen 500 ispresented, entertaining music may be played through the speakers orheadphones. The student begins one of the exercises by moving theselector 504 on top of the exercise icon or grapheme 502, and indicatingthe selection (e.g., by clicking the mouse). The program then leads thestudent through the invoked exercise. In one embodiment, after a sessionfor one of the exercises is completed, the student is automaticallytaken to the next exercise in the set, as appropriate. In an alternativeembodiment, the student is taken back to the screen 500 for selection ofanother exercise. In this embodiment, any exercises already playedduring the present session may be grayed out so that they may not bereselected.

The exercises will now be described in detail. The description willprovide a general overview of an exercise, including its goals, itsfeatures, and a brief description of the exercise. A flow chartillustrating the method of the exercise will be described, including thetasks of the exercise, and the student's interaction in the exercise.During the description, the reader will be referred to the drawingswhere s/he will be walked through the exercise play, as if s/he were atthe computer, particularly illustrating the novel features of theexercise. Exemplary stimulus sets used to train the student will beprovided.

Exercise 1: Wood Works

The goal of this exercise is to build accuracy and fluency in spelling,decoding, and phonemic analysis by working with multiple spellingpatterns for English phonemes. In a first portion of this exercise thestudent sorts written words into various sound or phoneme bins labeledwith phonetic (e.g., dictionary) symbols. In a second portion of theexercise the student sorts spoken words into spelling bins labeled withspelling patterns. Thus, the student may sort textual words into binsbased on specified word elements, e.g., phonemes and spelling patterns.

Students develop advanced phonics and spelling skills as they categorizewords with complex spelling patterns by sound and identify the correctspelling patterns for words that use different spellings for the samesounds (e.g., foci, tidewater, delightful, hydrogen).

Multiple words are presented to illustrate each targeted word element,e.g., spelling pattern, including examples of the element or pattern ininitial, medial, and final position, whenever appropriate (e.g., query,equator, unique). The most common spelling patterns for a large number(e.g., 24) of phonemes are covered, along with sound-spellingrelationships that are commonly confused, e.g., by English languagelearners. In one embodiment, over 1,500 spelling words are presented,including many (e.g., 55) terms from math and geometry, many (e.g., 98)from social studies and geography, and many (e.g., 100) from thesciences.

As students progress, they move from more familiar terms (e.g., 4th and5th grade level words of one to two syllables) to more challenging terms(e.g., 5th and 6th grade level words of two to five syllables), as wellas academic terms.

As mentioned above, this exercise develops cognitive skills in thestudent, such as memory, by developing long-term recall for spelling;working memory to remember target word; attention, by focusing onselective attention; and processing, by developing both auditory andvisual cognitive processing skills.

FIG. 6—Method for Building Accuracy and Fluency in Phonemic Analysis,Decoding, and Spelling Via Phonetic-Based Sorting

FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram of one embodiment of acomputer-implemented method for building accuracy and fluency inphonemic analysis, decoding, and spelling via a computing device byworking with multiple spelling patterns for phonemes, e.g., for Englishphonemes. It should be noted that in various embodiments, some of themethod elements described may be performed concurrently, in a differentorder than described, or may be omitted. Additional method elements maybe performed as desired. As FIG. 6 shows, the method may be performed asfollows:

In 602, a stimulus word set may be provided. As noted above, thestimulus word set may include words that contain respective phonemes invarious different positions in the word (e.g., query, equator, andunique). In some embodiments, the stimulus word set may be organizedaccording to any of a variety of schemes, e.g., based on word length,difficulty, commonness, phonetic content, and so forth, as desired.

In 604, a plurality of bins, e.g., phoneme bins, may be displayed. Forexample, graphical representations, e.g., icons or graphemes) ofcontainers may be presented, which the student may select to indicate asorting operation. Each bin is preferably labeled with a correspondingphoneme. The bins may be presented in random order.

In preferred embodiments, a graphical user interface (GUI) may beprovided whereby the exercise may be performed, where the GUI preferablydisplays two or more of: a student indicator, a time indicator, aninitiation button, whereby the student invokes presentation of stimuluswords, and a score indicator.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary introductory screen for the exercisewherein the phoneme bins are displayed. As FIG. 7 shows, the screenincludes the name of the student 702, an initiation button, in thiscase, a selection paw 704, also referred to as an OR button, and acursor 706. To begin a trial, the student may move the cursor 706 overthe selection paw 704 and indicate the selection, e.g., by clicking themouse. The screen 700 further includes a number of labeled shelves orbins 708, representing sorting bins into which the student may sorttarget phonemes, as will be described below, a number of speakers 710, amain character, in this case, a beaver 712, a score indicator 714,progress markers 715 indicating progress through the exercise, and atime indicator 716. In preferred embodiments, displaying the pluralityof bins may include graphically displaying a phonetic symbol for therespective phoneme of each bin, and aurally presenting a description ofthe respective phoneme of each bin. In some cases, e.g., for the firsttrial of a set of stimulus words, each bin may be highlighted as itsdescription is aurally presented. This highlighting may be removed oncethe description is presented. The speakers 710 may allow a student toauditorily replay phonemes (e.g., their descriptions) that are on thecorresponding shelves or bins 708 as desired. In one embodiment, thestudent can click on a speaker next to a bin at any time to repeat thedefinition for the bin, but fewer points may be awarded. Additionally,clicking on the speaker may invoke highlighting of the associated bin,e.g., in white. Moreover, in some embodiments, once the speaker has beenclicked, i.e., once help has been requested, the trial may be counted asincorrect for the purposes of advancement. The score indicator 714 mayadd points to the students score as the student correctly responds totrials. The time indicator 716 may provide a graphical illustration ofthe relative time left for the exercise. Exercise play may begin whenthe student selects the selection paw 704.

In some embodiments, a bin may be displayed into which stimulus wordsthat do not contain any of the presented phonemes can be sorted. Thisbin is preferably placed at the end (e.g., bottom or far right) of theother displayed bins, and may be labeled “none”, or some otherdescriptive label as desired.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary screen shot from the Wood Works exerciseillustrating one embodiment of the basic exercise setup for this phonemesorting task. As may be seen, in this embodiment, each of the bins islabeled with the corresponding phoneme for sorting presented stimulusitems, and where the last or bottom bin is labeled “none” (718).

In 606, a stimulus word (e.g., a next stimulus word) from the stimulusword set may be graphically presented to the student via the computingdevice, where the stimulus word contains one of the plurality ofphonemes represented by the plurality of bins. For example, a textualrepresentation of the stimulus word may be shown on the screen. As FIG.8 shows, in this embodiment, a board 720 is displayed that includes thetextual stimulus word (as a label). Note that the GUI displays a maincharacter (in this case, a beaver), where the main character performs orassists in performing the presenting the stimulus word.

In 608, the student may be required to select a bin from the pluralityof bins representing a phoneme contained in the presented stimulus word.For example, the student may be required to select one of the displayedbins, where the bin selection indicates or asserts that the phoneme ofthe selected bin is included in the stimulus word. For example, in theembodiment shown in FIG. 8, the stimulus word “width” includes thephoneme “\th\”, and so the second bin from the top is the correct bin.

The student preferably selects the bin via a pointing device, such as amouse, although any other means for selection may also be used asdesired.

As FIG. 6 also shows, in 610, a determination may be made as to whetherthe student selected the correct bin, and the result stored. This resultmay then be used to drive further operations, such as, for example, theawarding of points to the student, and so forth. Moreover, such resultsfrom multiple trials may be used to determine and/or guide the student'sprogress through the exercise, e.g., by influencing the difficulty ofsubsequent stimulus word/bin presentations. For example, once all thetrials in a unit have been performed, the student's degree of successfor the unit may be ascertained, and may be used to determine the nextunit to be performed.

As described above, in preferred embodiments, an indication, i.e.,graphical and/or audial, may be provided as to the student's correctness(or incorrectness), e.g., via speakers or headphones. For example, a“thunk” sound may be played indicating incorrectness, or a “ding” may beplayed indicating correctness, and the facial expression of thecharacter may also provide such an indication, e.g., smiling when theselection is correct. Of course, any other types of indication may beused as desired. For example, in one embodiment, if the student selectsthe correct bin, the bin may be highlighted, e.g., in yellow, and ananimation presented moving the stimulus word (e.g., the board with thestimulus word label) into the correct bin. Points may also be awardedbased on the correctness of the response. In one embodiment, if bonuspoints are earned, a special indication may be provided, e.g., 3 dingsmay be played.

Similarly, in one embodiment, if the selection is incorrect, a “thunk”may be played, the correct bin may be highlighted, e.g., in white, theboard displaying the stimulus word may be highlighted, e.g., in white,and the letters in the stimulus word that represent the phoneme may behighlighted differently, e.g., in blue. If the word contains none of thedisplayed phonemes, no letters may be highlighted. Additionally, uponsuch an incorrect response, the stimulus word may be pronounced. Thehighlights may then be removed and the stimulus word may disappear.

As FIG. 6 also indicates, additional stimulus words from the stimulusword set may be presented, where the student is required to select anappropriate bin for each word, and the correctness or incorrectness ofeach selection determined and stored, as described above. At the end ofeach trial, if the unit is not completed, the next trial mayautomatically be presented. In various embodiments, the stimulus wordsfor a unit may be presented according to a specified order, or may bepresented randomly, as desired. Thus, the graphically presenting, therequiring, and the determining may be performed for each stimulus wordin the stimulus word set to build accuracy and fluency in phonemicanalysis, decoding, and spelling skills in the student, as FIG. 6indicates.

Moreover, in preferred embodiments, the displaying, the graphicallypresenting, the requiring, and the determining may be repeated for eachstimulus word in the stimulus word set, where the repeating buildsaccuracy and fluency in phonemic analysis, decoding, and spelling skillsin the student. In other words, the student may be exposed to thestimulus word set (one word at a time, in the manner described above)multiple times to facilitate development of the student's phonemic andspelling skills. As noted above, such repetition may occur in aplurality of sessions over days, weeks, or even months. Additionally, insome embodiments, the stimulus word set may be included in a pluralityof stimulus word sets, and the method may include performing therepeating for each stimulus word set in the plurality of stimulus wordsets. For example, in one embodiment, each stimulus word set from theplurality of stimulus word sets may be associated with a unit directedto stimulus words from the stimulus word set, and performing therepeating for each stimulus word set in the plurality of stimulus wordsets may include performing trials in each unit of a plurality of unitsfor each level of a plurality of levels, as will be described in moredetail below.

In one embodiment, an introductory or training set of trials may beperformed, e.g., prior to performance of the “official” trials. In otherwords, stimulus words from an introductory training set may bepresented, where the phonemes are easily contrasted, to familiarize thestudent with the task. In some embodiments, the student may be requiredto meet some specified level of success with the introductory trialsbefore progressing to the remaining sets of the exercise, i.e., thestudent may be required to “pass” the training portion of the exercisebefore proceeding. In one embodiment, if the student incorrectly selectsa bin for a stimulus word, the correct bin may be indicated, e.g., viahighlighting.

In some embodiments, the exercise may include multiple tasks. Forexample, in the embodiment described herein, the method of FIG. 6,directed to phoneme-based sorting, may be a first task of the exercise,and a second task, e.g., directed to spelling-based sorting, may also beincluded in the exercise. FIG. 9, described below, illustrates just suchan additional task.

FIG. 9—Method for Building Accuracy and Fluency in Phonemic Analysis,Decoding, and Spelling Via Spelling-Based Sorting

FIG. 9 is a flowchart diagram of one embodiment of acomputer-implemented method for building accuracy and fluency inphonemic analysis, decoding, and spelling via a computing device bymatching spoken words with multiple spelling patterns, e.g., for Englishword spelling patterns. As noted above, while the embodiments of theexercises described herein are directed to the English language, otherlanguages are also contemplated, as the techniques and methods describedherein are broadly applicable to development of cognitive reading skills(and more general cognitive skills) in any language. It should befurther noted that in various embodiments, some of the method elementsdescribed may be performed concurrently, in a different order thandescribed, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may beperformed as desired. Note that for brevity, descriptions of methodelements that are similar to those of the method of FIG. 6, describedabove, may be abbreviated.

As FIG. 9 shows, the method may be performed as follows:

In 902, a stimulus word set may be provided, where the stimulus word setmay include words that contain respective spelling patterns in variousdifferent positions in the word (e.g., play, ailment, bat, etc.).

In 904, a plurality of spelling pattern bins may be displayed, e.g.,graphical representations, e.g., icons or graphemes, of containers maybe presented, which the student may select to indicate a sortingoperation. Each bin is preferably labeled with an associated spellingpattern. In other words, the bin labels are text, and represent parts ofwords, and how they are spelled. For example, a student may be sorting aword that includes a long-a sound (age, drain, delay, or apron). The binlabels in this case may be “a_e”, “ai” “ay” and “a”). Similar to themethod of FIG. 6, a spelling pattern bin labeled “none” may be included,into which words that do not contain any of the presented spellingpatterns can be sorted. The spelling pattern bins may be in a randomorder.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary screen shot 1000 from the Wood Works exerciseillustrating one embodiment of the basic exercise setup for the spellingpattern sorting task. As shown, similar to the screen shot of FIG. 7,the screen includes the name of the student 1002, initiation button1004, in this case, a selection paw 1004, also referred to as an ORbutton, and cursor 1006. As above, to begin a trial, the student maymove the cursor 1006 over the selection paw 1004 and indicate theselection, e.g., by clicking the mouse. Also similar to FIG. 7, thescreen 1000 further includes labeled shelves or bins 1008, representingsorting bins into which the student may sort target spelling patterns,as will be described below, beaver 1012, score indicator 1014, and timeindicator 1016. In preferred embodiments, displaying the plurality ofbins may include graphically displaying the respective spelling patternof each bin.

Note that for this task, there are no speakers for audibly presentingthe spelling patterns, since the student is expected to recognize thespelling patterns visually. As with the previous task, the scoreindicator 1014 may add points to the students score as the studentcorrectly responds to trials, and the time indicator 1016 may provide agraphical illustration of the relative time left for the exercise.Exercise play may begin when the student selects the selection paw 1004.

In 906, a stimulus word (e.g., a next stimulus word) from the stimulusword set may be audibly or aurally presented to the student via thecomputing device (e.g., via speakers or headphones), e.g., may bepronounced, where the stimulus word contains one of the plurality ofspelling patterns represented by the plurality of spelling pattern bins.As noted above, in some embodiments, because the stimulus word ispresented audibly, the spelling pattern bins may not have correspondingspeakers (e.g., images of speakers), and so the student may not have theoption of hearing the sounds of the spelling patterns of the bins. Thus,the student may hear a word as it is presented to be sorted into a bin,based on a spelling pattern that occurs in the word. In one embodiment,when the stimulus word is presented, an object representing orassociated with the stimulus word may be displayed, e.g., a log may bedisplayed that should be sorted into one of the bins.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary screenshot from the Wood Works exerciseillustrating one embodiment of a sorting problem presented as part ofthe spelling pattern sorting task. As may be seen, each of the spellingpattern bins is labeled with a corresponding spelling pattern,specifically, “ch”, “bb”, “wh”, and “z”. Note that in some embodiments,the bottom bin may be reserved for sorting words that do not belong inany of the spelling pattern bins, and may be labeled “none” (orequivalent), similar to the above-described phoneme sorting task. As maybe seen in FIG. 11, a log 1120 is displayed representing the audiblypresented word.

In 608, the student may be required to select a bin from the pluralityof bins representing a spelling pattern contained in the presentedstimulus word. Said another way, the student may be required to selectone of the displayed bins, where the bin selection indicates or assertsthat the spelling pattern of the selected bin is included in thestimulus word. For example, in an exemplary case, the stimulus word“rabbit” may be audibly presented, and so a spelling pattern bin labeled“bb” would be the correct bin for sorting the word. In one embodiment,once the student has sorted the word, the presented (and sorted)stimulus word may be presented, i.e., displayed. The student may thensort the word by clicking on the bin with a spelling pattern that iscontained in the stimulus word.

As may be seen in FIG. 11, the student has selected the “bb” bin (whichis shown highlighted). FIG. 12 is an exemplary screenshot showing thedisplayed word (on the log), where the word is displayed in response tothe student's selection.

In 610, a determination may be made as to whether the student selectedthe correct bin, and the result stored. As described above, this resultmay then be used to drive further operations, such as, for example, theawarding of points to the student, and so forth. As also describedabove, such results from multiple trials may be used to determine and/orguide the student's progress through the exercise, e.g., by influencingthe difficulty of subsequent stimulus word/bin presentations. As furtherdescribed above, in preferred embodiments, an indication, i.e.,graphical and/or audial, may be provided as to the student's correctness(or incorrectness), e.g., a “thunk” sound may be played indicatingincorrectness, or a “ding” may be played indicating correctness, and thefacial expression of the character may also provide such an indication,e.g., smiling when the selection is correct.

As noted above with respect to the method of FIG. 6, any other types ofindication may be used as desired. For example, if the student selectsthe correct bin, a “ding” may be played, the bin may be highlighted,e.g., in yellow, the text of the stimulus word may be revealed, e.g., onthe log, and an animation presented moving the stimulus word (e.g., theboard with the stimulus word label) into the correct bin. As above,points may also be awarded based on the correctness of the response. Inone embodiment, if bonus points are earned, a special indication may beprovided, e.g., 3 dings may be played.

Similarly, in one embodiment, if the selection is incorrect, a “thunk”may be played, the correct bin may be highlighted, e.g., in white, theaudibly presented stimulus word may be displayed graphical (textually),e.g., the log may display the stimulus word, where the stimulus word maybe highlighted, e.g., in white, and the letters in the stimulus wordthat match the spelling pattern may be highlighted differently, e.g., inblue. If the word contains none of the displayed spelling patterns, noletters may be highlighted. Additionally, upon such an incorrectresponse, the stimulus word may be pronounced. The highlights may thenbe removed and the stimulus word may disappear.

As FIG. 9 also indicates, additional stimulus words from the stimulusword set may be presented, where the student is required to select anappropriate spelling pattern bin for each word, and the correctness orincorrectness of each selection determined and stored, as describedabove. Moreover, similar to above, in preferred embodiments, thedisplaying, the audibly presenting, the requiring, and the determiningmay be repeated for each stimulus word in the stimulus word set, wherethe repeating builds accuracy and fluency in spelling pattern analysis,decoding, and spelling skills in the student. In other words, thestudent may be exposed to the stimulus word set (one word at a time, inthe manner described above) multiple times to facilitate development ofthe student's spelling skills. As noted above, such repetition may occurin a plurality of sessions over days, weeks, or even months.

As with the first (i.e., phonetic) task, in one embodiment, anintroductory or training set of trials may be performed, e.g., prior toperformance of the “official” trials, i.e., stimulus words from anintroductory training set may be presented, where the spelling patternsare easily contrasted, to familiarize the student with the task. Asbefore, in some embodiments, the student may be required to meet somespecified level of success with the introductory trials beforeprogressing to the remaining sets of the exercise, i.e., the student maybe required to “pass” the training portion of the exercise beforeproceeding.

Fluency Rounds

In one embodiment, the exercise may include fluency rounds, whichpresent time-limited versions of trials in the exercise. For example, inone embodiment, when a student clicks on the OR button, e.g., the “paw”button, after passing 2 units, a fluency round may be triggered. The ORbutton may change to a timer, which may count down a 60 second (or otherspecified duration) time limit. The trials for the fluency round may berandomly sampled from the last completed unit. If the student does notclick on the correct answer within a specified time interval, e.g., 3seconds, the trial may be considered incorrect. Note that in someembodiments, fluency round trials may not be evaluated for advancement.Note further that, other than the timing and progression/scoring, thetrials of the fluency round may be performed as described above withrespect to (one or both of) the two tasks of the exercise. In otherwords, the trials of the fluency round may be similar to those of thecurrent task. Moreover, the order of the bins may be the same as in theprevious unit.

In some embodiments, rewards for fluency rounds may be different fromthose of regular rounds or trials. For example, in one embodiment, onlydesignated animations (e.g., fast only) may play during a fluency round,i.e., reward animations may not play. Points may be awarded as inregular play, but bonus points earned during the fluency round may beawarded at the end of the fluency round. If the last trial of thefluency round is answered incorrectly, the bonus points may not beawarded onscreen, but may still be added to the student's point total.

Regarding exit/reentry, in some embodiments, the fluency round mayalways play for the full duration, e.g., 60 seconds, unless the studentexits manually. If the student exits manually from the fluency round,upon re-entry the remainder of the fluency round may be skipped, and thestudent may begin with the next open unit. If no units remain open, thestudent may not be allowed to return to the exercise.

Exemplary Content and Progression

The following presents an exemplary embodiment of a content set for theabove-described exercise (Wood Works), although it should be noted thatthe information is exemplary only, and is not intended to limit theexercise to any particular set of phonemes, words, spelling patterns, orprogression sequence or criteria.

Overview:

Vocabulary Total Trials Total Task sets levels units per unit trialsPhoneme sort 1 1 1 20 20 introduction Phoneme sort 7 2 14 20 280Spelling sort 1 1 1 20 20 introduction Spelling sort 29 2 58 20 11601480

Exemplary Content Stats: Easy Level Vocabulary

725 unique words, consisting primarily of 4^(th) and 5^(th) grade terms(per Mogilner). All words are one or two syllables in length.

Hard Level Vocabulary

778 unique words, consisting primarily of 5^(th) and 6^(th) grade termsand elementary/middle school level academic terms. There are 256academic words among the hard level items, consisting of 100 scienceterms, 57 math and geometry terms, and 99 social studies & geographyterms. All words are two or more syllables in length.

Task 1: Sort by Phoneme

Introductory Phoneme set 0. (/k/ /sh/ /ē/ /n/) Content type visual matchPhoneme sets phoneme type (higher = easier) 1. /z/ /s/ /th/ noneconsonant medium 2. /l/ /r/ /w/ none consonant medium 3. /zh/ /j/ /ng/none consonant low 4. /ch/ /sh/ /k/ none consonant low 5. /

/ /ō/ /oi/ /ou/ vowels low 6. /a/ /e/ /i/ none vowels low 7. /ā/ /ē/ /1/ none vowels low

Task 2: Sort by Spelling

Spelling sets Phoneme type 0. (wh, bb, z, ch) /w b z ch/ Spelling setsPhoneme(s) Content Type  1. (b, p, v, f) /b p v f/ ELL confusable  2.(es, s, ex, sh) - initial /es s eks sh/ ELL confusable  3. (j, h, g, y)/j h g y/ ELL confusable  4. (ll, y, w, e) /l, y, w, ee/ ELL confusable 5. (x, ks, ck, sk) /ks, ks, k, sk/ ELL confusable  6. (d, dd, ed, none)/d/ simple consonant  7. (t, tt, ed, none) /t/ simple consonant  8. (m,mm, lm, none) /m/ simple consonant  9. (n, nn, kn, none) /n/ simpleconsonant 10. (r, rr, wr, none) /r/ simple consonant 11. (s, c, ss, sc)/s/ complex consonant 12. (s, z, zz, none) /z/ complex consonant 13. (c,cc, k, qu) /k/ complex consonant 14. (g, j, dg, none) /j/ complexconsonant 15. (ch, t, tch, none) /ch/ complex consonant 16. (ti, sh, ch,c) /sh/ complex consonant 17. (u, o, ou, none) /u/ hut short vowel 18.(i, y, e, none) /i/ short vowel 19. (o, a, au, aw) /aw/ short vowel 20.(oo, u, ou, none) /oo/ took short vowel 21. (a, a_e, ai, ay) /ā/ longvowel 22. (e, ea, ee, ie) /ē/ long vowel 23. (i_e, i, y, igh) / 1/ longvowel 24. (o, o_e, ow, oa) /ō/ long vowel 25. (oo, u_e, o_e, ou) /OO/boot long vowel 26. (u, u_e, ew, ue) /yOO/ special vowel 27. (are, air,ar, none) /ā_(r)/ special vowel 28. (eer, ear, ere, none) /ē_(r)/special vowel 29. (er, ir, ur, none) /

/ special vowel

Progression:

Term General definition Exercise-specific definition Trial The stimulusand Stimulus word and 4 response options response options presented to astudent; response is evaluated Unit the smallest group of A total of 20trials, sampled from a single trials to be evaluated for content set.advancement Category a subset of the content The target phoneme orspelling pattern category set, defined by having into which a word willbe sorted. (e.g., /z/, or common characteristics eer) Set content setfrom which A set of 4 phoneme or 4 spelling pattern trials are sampledor categories (or 3 and a “none of the above” taken to create a unitcategory). Level 1, Set /z/ /s/ /th/ none Level 2, Set 1 b, p, v, fLevel grouping of sets Level: grouped by Sublevel: grouped designated asVocabulary, Task by hierarchically equivalent attributes Content Typeattribute based on one or more shared attributes Level 1: Easy, phoneme3 types Level 2: Easy, spelling 6 types Level 3: Hard, phoneme 3 typesLevel 4: Hard, spelling 6 types Level Attributes by which setsVocabulary: difficulty Content Type: Attributes are grouped into levelslevel of vocabulary in type of content in (or sublevels). The contentset set attributes and the Easy (4^(th) & 5^(th) (see chart below)hierarchy assigned to the grade words, 1–2 attributes may differsyllables long) across exercises. Hard (5^(th) & 6^(th) grade & academicwords*, 2–5 syllables long) Task: activity performed by student;independent of other tasks Task 1 (sort by phoneme into bins labeledwith dictionary phoneme symbols) Task 2 (sort by spelling pattern intobins labeled with letters)

Note that in the embodiments described herein, the academic vocabularyset used in the exercise includes math, science, and social studiesterms commonly found in elementary and intermediate level textbooks.Most 5^(th) graders should have some familiarity with most of theacademic vocabulary in this exercise.

Order of Progression:

In one embodiment, the student may progress through the content in theorder in which it is shown in the chart below. The sets within eachcontent type may be presented in random order.

level- Vocabulary type- Content set- # of Sets Min. # of id level Taskid Type ids (units) trials 1 NA phoneme 0 intro 0 1 20 1 easy phoneme 1consonant 1–2 2 40 med 1 easy phoneme 2 consonant low 3–4 2 40 1 easyphoneme 3 vowel low 5–7 3 60 2 NA spelling 0 intro 0 1 20 2 easyspelling 1 ELL 1–5 5 100 confusable 2 easy spelling 2 simple  6–10 5 100consonant 2 easy spelling 3 complex 11–16 6 120 consonant 2 easyspelling 4 short vowel 17–20 4 80 2 easy spelling 5 long vowel 21–25 5100 2 easy spelling 6 special vowel 26–29 4 80 3 hard phoneme 1consonant 1–2 2 40 med 3 hard phoneme 2 consonant low 3–4 2 40 3 hardphoneme 3 vowel low 5–7 3 60 4 hard spelling 1 ELL 1–5 5 100 confusable4 hard spelling 2 simple  6–10 5 100 consonant 4 hard spelling 3 complex11–16 6 120 consonant 4 hard spelling 4 short vowel 17–20 4 80 4 hardspelling 5 long vowel 21–25 5 100 4 hard spelling 6 special vowel 26–294 80 74 1480

Note that the exercise includes a plurality of progression levels, eachwith a respective level ID. As shown, level 1 corresponds to the phonemesorting task with easy vocabulary, level 2 corresponds to the spellingpattern task with easy vocabulary, level 3 corresponds to the phonemesorting task with hard vocabulary, level 2 corresponds to the spellingpattern task with hard vocabulary. Thus, as the student progressesthrough the levels, they may alternate between the two tasks. As will bedescribed below, the exercise may also include a plurality of difficultylevels, although these should not be confused with the progressionlevels.

In one embodiment, the exercise content may be organized as follows:

4 Progression Levels

-   Each level=1 sorting task at a vocabulary level (easy, hard)

$\begin{matrix}{{{Percent}\mspace{14mu} {thru}} = {\frac{{closed}\mspace{14mu} {sets}}{74}*100}}\end{matrix}$

-   Levels presented in order-   Content types within levels presented in order

2 Sorting Tasks (see chart below for details):

Sort by Phoneme: L1, L3

-   -   3 content types/level    -   8 sets/level

Sort by Spelling: L2, L4

-   -   6 content types/level    -   30 sets/level

Sets

-   Set=4 sorting categories-   Sets presented randomly within content type-   Sets can't be reopened once closed-   Each set=20 trials-   Unit=1 set    Exercise also includes fluency rounds. See FIG. 13, described below,    for progression.

Evaluation of Trial:

A trial may be evaluated as correct if the student clicks on the correctbin to sort the word. If the student makes the correct selection theymay receive points and that trial is considered “passed” and countedtoward advancement.

If the student clicks on the speaker button, and then answers the trialcorrectly, the student receives fewer points, and the trial may becounted as incorrect for the purposes of advancement. If the studentclicks on the incorrect bin, the trial is considered “failed” and thestudent receives no points.

Evaluation of Unit:

In this exemplary embodiment, a unit includes 20 trials. Each unit mayrandomly sample 5 words from each of the 4 categories in the set. If 5words are not available, the unit may randomly sample from the remainingwords in the set. The same target category should not be presented morethan 3 consecutive times in a unit. After 20 trials, the unit may beevaluated for advancement.

Advancement:

If 90% of the words (18 out of 20) in the unit are sorted correctly, theunit is passed; otherwise, the unit is failed. If a unit is passed, thestudent advances to the next available unit. If a unit is failed, theunit immediately repeats. The unit may repeat until the student haseither passed the unit or has attempted the unit 3 times.

Plateau Based Transition:

After 3 attempts, the student may plateau transition to the nextavailable unit. After all units in the exercise have been passed orattempted 3 times, any units not passed may be repeated. The units maybe repeated following the same progression and advancement rules asduring initial presentation. Note that if the unit is an introductoryunit, the student may NOT plateau transition after 3 attempts, but mayrepeat the unit until it is passed.

Exit and Re-Entry:

The student may be allowed to manually exit or time out prior toclicking the OR button for any trial. The exercise cannot be exitedwhile a trial is in progress. Upon re-entry, the student may be returnedto the exact point from which they exited.

Progress Markers:

Progress through the exercise (comparable to percent-through) may bemarked by the addition of a total of 5 markers (stars). The first 4stars may be awarded after 15 units have been passed. The last star maybe awarded after 14 units have been passed.

End of Exercise:

The exercise may end when the student has met passing criteria in allunits. It may then return to the wrapper, e.g., the startup screen, viaa “Good Job” screen.

In preferred embodiments, the exercise may include multiple difficultylevels, e.g., corresponding to the degree of difficulty of the exercisecontent. Note that these difficulty levels are not the same as theprogression levels described elsewhere. The following is an exemplarycontent mapping for data sets for this exercise (Wood Works).

Content Mapping:

(min) Total Eval Set-ids Trials Type-id Content type (units) to passEasy Vocabulary Vocab-level = easy* Sort by Phoneme Task = phonemeIntroductory Set 0 0 20 Level 1: Consonant sounds with few 1 consonant1, 2 40 spellings med Level 2: Consonant sounds with many 2 consonant 3,4 40 spellings low Level 3: Vowel sounds with many 3 vowel low 5, 6, 760 spellings Sort by Spelling Pattern Task = spelling Introductory set 00 20 Level 1: Common errors for English 1 ELL 1, 2, 3, 100 LanguageLearners confusable 4, 5 Level 2: Simple consonant patterns 2 simple 6,7, 8, 100 consonant 9, 10 Level 3: Complex consonant patterns 3 complex11, 12, 120 consonant 13, 14, 15, 16 Level 4: Short vowels 4 short vowel17, 18, 80 19, 20 Level 5: Long vowels 5 long vowel 21, 22, 100 23, 24,25 Level 6: Special vowels 6 special 26, 27, 80 vowel 28, 29 HardVocabulary Vocab-level = hard* Sort by Phoneme Task = phoneme Level 1:Consonant sounds with few 1 consonant 1, 2 40 spellings med Level 2:Consonant sounds with many 2 consonant 3, 4 40 spellings low Level 3:Vowel sounds with many 3 vowel low 5, 6, 7 60 spellings Sort by SpellingPattern Task = spelling Level 1: Common errors for English 1 ELL 1, 2,3, 100 Language Learners confusable 4, 5 Level 2: Simple consonantpatterns 2 simple 6, 7, 8, 100 consonant 9, 10 Level 3: Complexconsonant patterns 3 complex 11, 12, 120 consonant 13, 14, 15, 16 Level4: Short vowels 4 short vowel 17, 18, 80 19, 20 Level 5: Long vowels 5long vowel 21, 22, 100 23, 24, 25 Level 6: Special vowels 6 special 26,27, 80 vowel 28, 29 *For the introductory sets, the vocabulary level is“training”

As may be seen, each task of the exercise (i.e., sort by phoneme, andsort by spelling pattern) includes multiple difficulty levels (not to beconfused with progression levels, as presented in the Order ofProgression chart above, and in this embodiment, also has easyvocabulary and hard vocabulary portions (each of which has multiplelevels). Moreover, as also indicated above, the stimulus words may beorganized into units based on these levels, as well as type ID andcontent type, where content type correlates with level.

FIG. 13—Detailed Progression Through Wood Works Units

FIG. 13 flowcharts a computer-implemented method for building accuracyand fluency in phonemic analysis, decoding, and spelling via a computingdevice, according to one embodiment. More specifically, the method isdirected to performance of units in the Wood Works exercise, includingfluency rounds. Note that the method of FIG. 13 is applicable to, andmay include, the methods of FIGS. 6 and 9 (and vice versa). As notedabove, in various embodiments, some of the method elements described maybe performed concurrently, in a different order than described, or maybe omitted. Additional method elements may be performed as desired. AsFIG. 13 shows, the method may be performed as follows:

As indicated, once the exercise has begun, then in 1301, a determinationmay be made as to whether the current level is 1 or 2. If the currentlevel is neither 1 or 2, then the method may proceed to 1305, describedbelow. If, on the other hand, the current level is determined to be 1 or2, then the method may proceed to 1303.

In 1303, a determination may be made as to whether the current unit isthe first unit in the current task. If the current unit is determined tonot be the first unit in the current task, then the method may proceedto 1305, described below. If the current unit is determined to be thefirst unit in the current task, then an introductory set, e.g., anintroductory stimulus word set, may be accessed or provided, asindicated in 1304.

After 1304, then in 1306, a unit of trials may be performed, where, asindicated, the unit comprises a random sample of stimulus words from theintroductory set of 1304. As also indicated, in this embodiment, theunit includes the performance of 20 trials (although in otherembodiments, a unit may include a different number of trials), afterwhich the student's performance on the unit may be evaluated.

In 1307, a determination may be made as to whether the student correctlyperformed a specified fraction or percentage of the trials, e.g., 18 outof 20 (90%). If not, then the method may return to 1306, and the unitmay be performed again and evaluated. This performance and evaluationmay be repeated until the specified percentage of trails in the unit isperformed correctly, or, in some embodiments, until some maximum numberof iterations has been performed. If the student has correctly performedthe specified fraction or percentage of the trials in the unit, e.g.,passed 90% of the trials, then the method may proceed to 1308.

In 1308, the next open unit may be determined, i.e., the next unit thathas not been performed (and passed), and then the method may proceed to1309, described below.

In 1305, a determination may be made as to whether the current unit isthe first unit in the current content type (see Order of Progressionchart above). If so, then the method may proceed to 1309, describedbelow. If the current unit is determined to not be the first unit in thecurrent content type, the method may proceed to 1310, described below.

In 1309, stimulus word sets within the current content type may berandomized, i.e., shuffled.

In 1310, a next set from the randomized sets may be determined andaccessed.

In 1312, a unit of trials from the next set of stimulus words (from1310) may be performed, where, as indicated, the unit comprises a randomsample of stimulus words from the set. As also indicated, in thisembodiment, the unit includes the performance of 20 trials (although inother embodiments, a unit may include a different number of trials),after which the student's performance on the unit may be evaluated.

In 1313 a determination may be made as to whether the student correctlyperformed a specified fraction or percentage of the trials, e.g., 18 outof 20 (90%). If the student has correctly performed the specifiedfraction or percentage of the trials in the unit, e.g., passed 90% ofthe trials, then the method may proceed to 1314. If not, then the methodmay continue to 1315.

In 1315, a determination may be made as to whether the student hasfailed this unit for a third time, and if not, the method may proceed to1316.

In 1316, the set of stimulus words of the current unit may be accessedor initialized (again), and another unit (or in some embodiments, thesame unit) using the same set of stimulus words (from 1310) may beperformed, where, as indicated, the unit comprises a random sample ofstimulus words from the set. Thus, the set, i.e., a unit from the set,may be repeated until the specified percentage of trails in the unit isperformed correctly, or until the maximum number of iterations has beenperformed, in this embodiment, three.

If the student has failed the unit for the third time, then in 1322, theunit may be kept open for later performance, e.g., at the end of theexercise, after which the method may proceed to 1323, described below.

If in 1313, the student passed the unit (e.g., correctly performed 90%or more of the trials, then the unit may be closed, as indicated in1314, and the method may proceed to 1317. Note that in preferredembodiments, once a unit is closed, the unit may not be subsequentlyopened during the exercise, i.e., the student may not perform trialsagain in that unit.

In 1317, a determination may be made as to whether the unit just passedis the second passed unit since the last fluency round. If not, then themethod may proceed to 1323, described below. If so, then the method mayproceed to 1318, where a fluency round may be initiated.

In 1320, a unit of trials from the previous set of stimulus words (from1310) may be performed, where, as indicated, the unit comprises a randomsample of stimulus words from the (previous) set. In contrast withregular trials, fluency rounds are timed. For example, in oneembodiment, the fluency round may be ended after 60 seconds, althoughother time limits may be used as desired. Moreover, the student'sperformance in the fluency round may not be evaluated. Note that thestimulus words used in the fluency round are those of a closed unit,i.e., the immediately previous unit that has just been passed andclosed.

In 1323, a determination may be made as to whether there are anyremaining open units in the exercise, i.e., units that have not beenpassed. If not, then the exercise may be exited, as shown. If there arefurther open units in the exercise, then in 1324, the method maydetermine the next open unit, and proceed with 1301, continuing asdescribed above until there are no further open units in the exercise toperform.

In one embodiment, once the exercise has been completed, the student'sperformance on the exercise may be displayed. Additionally, in someembodiments, the student's progression through the plurality ofexercises may be displayed. In preferred embodiments, the top-levelscreen of FIG. 5 may be displayed, whereby the student may select thenext exercise to perform. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the nextexercise to perform may be determined automatically, and a correspondingintroductory screen for the next exercise may be displayed.

Note that performance of the method of FIG. 13 may include performingunits at various progression levels, and at various levels ofdifficulty, e.g., using easy and hard vocabulary, as indicated by theorder of progression chart above. Also, in preferred embodiments, theexercise may be repeated as desired, e.g., in sessions over days, weeks,or even months, to improve cognitive reading skills in the student.

Exercise 2: Gator Jam

The goal of this exercise (i.e., Gator Jam) is to build vocabularyskills and improve accuracy and fluency in critical thinking andabstract reasoning by working with important semantic/grammaticalrelationships among words.

In this exercise, students work with analogies in two ways, helping themto learn targeted vocabulary in the context of analogies, while alsolearning to analyze analogies and identify the semantic relationshipsthey convey. Alternate responses (i.e., other than the correct one)relate in some other way to words in the analogy stem, so that studentsmust read each analogy closely and reflect on its vocabulary andsemantic relationships, in order to select the correct answer. Theexercise includes a large number (e.g., 95) key vocabulary words (alongwith a great many (e.g., over 1900) context words), each of which ispresented in different analogies (e.g., 3 to 6 different analogies) sothat students can learn different aspects of each word's meaning.

In one exemplary embodiment, the key vocabulary words cover 27 Latin andGreek morphemes (prefixes, roots, or suffixes) that are widely used inEnglish (e.g., able, auto, cred, dis, en, form, graph, in inter, ist,ive, ment, meter, mis, phon, port, pre, re, scope, sign, spect, sphere,tele, trans, y, ion, al). To help students recognize and learn thesehigh-utility morphemes, each of them appears in a plurality (e.g., 2 to7) of the key vocabulary words. In one embodiment, a built-in glossarymay provide dictionary-like definitions of the key words and otherdifficult terms in each item for students that need extra vocabularysupport.

As noted above, this exercise facilitates cognitive skill development inthe student with respect to memory, by exercising long-term memory forvocabulary and working memory for comparing words; with respect toattention, by using selective attention for making selections alongvarious linguistic dimensions; with respect to processing, by developingfluent access to the multiple relationships among words; and withrespect to sequencing, by recognizing directionality of wordrelationships.

More specifically, in a first task or stage, the student may be requiredto complete analogies in a cloze task format where one of four terms ofa presented analogy is missing. In a second task or stage, the studentmay reread the completed analogies, and sort them based on the type ofanalogical relationship illustrated or represented. This exercise mayfacilitate vocabulary and concept development, may require the studentto know abstract, derived roots and affixes from Greek and Latin, and touse this knowledge to analyze the meaning of complex words, and tounderstand and explain frequently used synonyms and antonyms.

FIG. 14—Method for Building Vocabulary Skills and Improving Accuracy andFluency in Critical Thinking and Abstract Reasoning Via AnalogyCompletion

FIG. 14 is a flowchart diagram of one embodiment of acomputer-implemented method for building vocabulary skills and improvingaccuracy and fluency in critical thinking and abstract reasoning byworking with important semantic/grammatical relationships among words.More specifically, the method is directed to the first stage of theexercise, wherein the student completes (or attempts to complete) aseries of incomplete analogies in a variety of analogy categories. Asabove, in various embodiments, some of the method elements described maybe performed concurrently, in a different order than described, or maybe omitted. Additional method elements may be performed as desired. AsFIG. 14 shows, the method may be performed as follows:

In 1402, a set of analogies may be provided. In one embodiment, the setof analogies may include analogies in each of a plurality of categories,including, for example, synonyms, antonyms, cause and effect, andgrammatical forms, among others. (A more complete list of suchcategories is provided below.) In one embodiment, a subset of thecategories may be presented to the student, from which the student mayselect a particular category of analogy. The student may then performtrials in the selected category, as described below.

As with the above-described Wood Works exercise, in preferredembodiments, a graphical user interface (GUI) may be provided wherebythe exercise may be performed. In one embodiment, before beginningtrials, the student may be allowed to select an analogy category fromthe plurality of categories, e.g., from a plural subset of the pluralityof categories, via a selection screen. For example, four categories maybe presented at a time. FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of ascreen in which a plurality of analogy categories 1501 is shown, i.e., asubset of the analogy categories, where, as mentioned, the student mayselect one of the categories for performance of trials in that category.As also shown, means, e.g., a button 1503 (see question mark buttons byeach presented category), may be provided for each category shownwhereby the student may invoke a definition or explanation of thecategory.

Once the student has selected an analogy category 1501, a screen may bepresented whereby the student may begin trials. FIG. 16 illustrates anexemplary introductory screen for trials in the exercise. As with FIG.7, the screen includes the name of the student 1502, an initiationbutton, in this case, a selection paw 1504, also referred to as an ORbutton, and a cursor 1506. To begin a trial, the student may move thecursor 1506 over the selection paw 1504 and indicate the selection,e.g., by clicking the mouse. The screen further includes a maincharacter, in this case, a hippopotamus 1512, secondary characters 1508,in this case, alligators, a score indicator 1514, progress markers 1515indicating progress through the exercise, and a time indicator 1516. Thescore indicator 1514 may add points to the students score as the studentcorrectly responds to trials. The time indicator 1516 may provide agraphical illustration of the relative time left for the exercise.Exercise play may begin when the student selects the selection paw 1504.

In 1404, an incomplete analogy may be presented or displayed to thestudent via a computing device. In preferred embodiments, the incompleteanalogy may be presented textually or graphically, although in someembodiments, the incomplete analogy may be presented audibly, e.g., viaspoken words, possibly with a distinctive sound in place of the textualblank. FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary screenshot wherein the maincharacter 1512 (the hippopotamus) presents an incomplete analogy 1702,in this example case, “A detective builds a case, like a screenwriterbuilds a _______.”

In 1406, a plurality of words may be presented to the student, where oneof the words correctly completes the incomplete analogy. As FIG. 17 alsoshows, in addition to, and/or in response to, the incomplete analogypresented in FIG. 17, a corresponding plurality of words is shownpresented by respective secondary characters 1508, i.e., the alligators.As shown, following the example of 1404, the words presented are“house”, “screen”, “criminal”, and “scene”. As also shown, in thisembodiment, a dictionary icon 1706 may be provided whereby the studentmay invoke help for the trial, e.g., word definitions, explanations ordefinitions of analogy categories, and so forth, as will be discussed inmore detail below.

In 1408, the student may be required to select a word from the pluralityof words to complete the analogy, e.g., by clicking on the word,although any other means for selection may also be used as desired. Forexample, in one embodiment, voice recognition technology may be usedthat allows the student to select the word verbally, e.g., by speakingthe word. FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary screenshot showing studentselection of the (correct) word “scene” 1802 to complete the exampleincomplete analogy 1702 of FIG. 17.

As FIG. 14 also shows, in 1410, a determination may be made as towhether the student selected the correct word, and the result stored. Aswith the previously described exercise, this result may then be used todrive further operations, such as, for example, the awarding of pointsto the student, and so forth. Moreover, such results from multipletrials may be used to determine and/or guide the student's progressthrough the exercise, e.g., by influencing the difficulty of subsequentanalogies. For example, once all the trials in a unit have beenperformed, the student's degree of success for the unit may beascertained, and may be used to determine the next unit, level, orstage, to be performed.

As described above, in preferred embodiments, an indication, i.e.,graphical and/or audial, may be provided as to the student's correctness(or incorrectness), e.g., via speakers or headphones. For example, a“thunk” sound may be played indicating incorrectness, or a “ding” may beplayed indicating correctness. In some embodiments, the facialexpression of the character may also provide such an indication, e.g.,smiling, etc., when the selection is correct. Of course, any other typesof indication may be used as desired. For example, in one embodiment, asmay be seen in FIG. 18, the correct selection of the word may result inhighlighting of the word or the speech balloon containing the word,e.g., in yellow, and the word may be put in place (in the blank) tocomplete the analogy 1702. A “ding” may be played, and points may beawarded based on the correctness of the response. In one embodiment, ifbonus points are earned, a special indication may be provided, e.g., 3dings may be played. Additionally, in some embodiments, a “correct”reward animation may be played.

Similarly, in one embodiment, if the selection is incorrect, a “thunk”may be played, and the speech balloon containing the correct word may behighlighted, e.g., in white, and the incorrect ones grayed out.Additionally, the correct word may be put in place (in the blank) tocomplete the analogy. The student may then be given some time, e.g., 2seconds, to read the completed analogy before proceeding to the nextanalogy.

As FIG. 14 also indicates, additional incomplete analogies from the setof analogies may be presented, where, as described above, the student isrequired to select an appropriate word (from additional pluralities ofwords), and the correctness or incorrectness of each selectiondetermined and stored, as described above. At the end of each trial, ifthe unit is not completed, the next trial may automatically bepresented. In various embodiments, the analogies for a unit may bepresented according to a specified order, or may be presented randomly,as desired. Thus, the presenting, the requiring, and the determining maybe performed for each analogy in the set of analogies to buildvocabulary skills and improve accuracy and fluency in critical thinkingand abstract reasoning.

Moreover, in preferred embodiments, the presenting the incompleteanalogy, the presenting the plurality of words, the requiring, and thedetermining may be repeated for each analogy in the set of analogies,where the repeating builds vocabulary skills and improves accuracy andfluency in critical thinking and abstract reasoning in the student. Inother words, the student may be exposed to the analogy set (one analogyat a time, in the manner described above) multiple times to facilitatedevelopment of the student's vocabulary and reasoning skills. As notedabove, such repetition may occur in a plurality of sessions over days,weeks, or even months. Additionally, in some embodiments, the set ofanalogies may be included in a plurality of analogy sets, and the methodmay include performing the repeating for each analogy set in theplurality of analogy sets. For example, in one embodiment, each analogyset from the plurality of analogy sets may be associated with a unitdirected to analogies from the analogy set, and performing the repeatingfor each analogy set in the plurality of analogy sets may includeperforming trials in each unit of a plurality of units for each level ofa plurality of levels, as will be described in more detail below.

As the student completes the trials (e.g., 5 trials) in each category(e.g., from the subset), that category may be grayed out, and may not beavailable for selection (e.g., until possibly presented as part ofanother subset of categories). In other words, only the categories notcompleted for the current evaluation may be active. Once all thecategories in the subset have been completed, a new subset of categoriesmay be presented, from which the student may select the next category inwhich to work. A unit may include trials directed to a specified numberof such subsets of categories. For example, in one embodiment, a unitmay include all trials for a single subset, e.g., four, of the analogycategories. Thus, if each category includes five trials, and each subsetincludes four categories, the number of trials in a unit is 20, althoughother schemes are also contemplated.

As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the exercise may includemultiple levels, i.e., progression levels, that determine variousaspects of the trials presented to the student, and/or additionalinformation that may be made available to the student. For example, inone embodiment, in stage 1 of the exercise (i.e., the analogy completionportion described above with reference to FIG. 14), the student maybegin at level 1, where, if the student selects a category for the firsttime, a definition for the selected analogy type (category) may bepresented (may be displayed on the screen). The student may dismiss thedefinition when ready to begin trials in the category, e.g., by clickingon a “done reading” button or equivalent.

In level 1 trials, the analogies may be presented with context sentencesthat make the relationship explicit (e.g., “Banana is a kind of fruit,like cucumber is a kind of ______”). In subsequent levels, e.g., levels2-4, the analogies may be presented in a non-supportive carrier sentence(e.g., “Banana is to fruit, as cucumber is to ______”). After completingthe trials for the category, e.g., after 5 trials have been performed,the student may return to the selection screen and choose anothercategory. After the student has completed all trials in each category,the trials may be evaluated.

In addition to the definitions provided initially in level 1, in someembodiments, the student may have access to definitions of selectedterms throughout the exercise, e.g., via a dictionary icon, although useof the definitions may result in reduced points. For example, duringstage 1 (analogy completion) brief definitions may be available for oneor more vocabulary words. A student who needs a word defined may be ableto click on a question mark on the dictionary, and a list of the wordsdefined for that trial may appear. The student can then click on a wordto display a definition. For example, in some embodiments, if thestudent clicks on the question mark on the book (dictionary), dictionarypages may appear with a list of words from the current trial on the toppage. The student may then click on a question mark (?) next to the wordhe/she needs defined. The question mark may change to an arrow and adefinition of the word may appear on the bottom page of the dictionary.Note that if a previous definition is displayed, it may be replaced andits icon changed back to the question mark.

At least one definition (the key vocabulary word) may be defined foreach trial. However, as noted above, use of this support may result inreduced points for a correct trial. Also, as described above withreference to FIG. 15, in some embodiments, on the selection screen, thestudent may click on a question mark icon next to each analogy type toread a definition for that type, although other means of definitioninvocation may be used as desired. For example, in one embodiment, whenthe definition for an analogy is invoked, a speech balloon may replacethe displayed analogy types, where the speech balloon contains anexplanation and example of the analogy type for which the question markwas selected. In one embodiment, in level 1, when the student clicks onan analogy type, if the student has not previously selected the analogytype, the definition or explanation (and possibly example) for theselected analogy type may automatically appear on the screen, e.g., in aspeech balloon. As with the word definitions, a done reading button (orfunctional equivalent) may be displayed, which the student may clickwhen ready to move on. When the student clicks the button, the speechballoon may be replaced by the analogy types. Once the student hasselected the analogy type, the screen may change to a pre-trial screenwith OR button, e.g., as described above with reference to FIG. 16.

After all trials for the selected category are completed, the selectionscreen may reappear with completed categories grayed out andunavailable, i.e., only the categories not completed for the currentevaluation may be active. This selection and performance may continueuntil the trials in each of the presented categories have beencompleted, i.e., until the unit is done, after which a new subset ofcategories may be presented, and so forth.

FIG. 19—Method for Building Vocabulary Skills and Improving Accuracy andFluency in Critical Thinking and Abstract Reasoning Via AnalogyCategorization

As noted above, in some embodiments, the exercise (i.e., the Gator Jamexercise) may include a second stage or task, where, for example, thesecond stage is directed to categorization of presented analogies. FIG.14 is a flowchart diagram of one embodiment of anothercomputer-implemented method for building vocabulary skills and improvingaccuracy and fluency in critical thinking and abstract reasoning byworking with important semantic/grammatical relationships among words.More specifically, the method is directed to the second stage of theGator Jam exercise, wherein the student categorizes analogies accordingto a variety of analogy categories. As above, in various embodiments,some of the method elements described may be performed concurrently, ina different order than described, or may be omitted. Additional methodelements may be performed as desired. As FIG. 19 shows, the method maybe performed as follows:

In 1902, a set of analogies may be provided. In one embodiment, the setof analogies may include analogies in each of a plurality of categories,including, for example, synonyms, antonyms, categories, features, causeand effect, tools, and grammatical forms, among others. A more completelist of such categories is provided below.

In 1904, an analogy (from the set of analogies) may be displayed. FIG.20 is illustrates an exemplary screen shot of the GUI for the secondstage of the Gator Jam exercise. As may be seen, similar to stage 1 ofthe exercise, the screen includes the name of the student 2002, aninitiation button, in this case, a selection paw 2004, also referred toas an OR button, and a cursor 2006. To begin a trial, the student maymove the cursor 2006 over the selection paw 2004 and indicate theselection, e.g., by clicking the mouse. The screen further includes amain character 2012, in this case, the hippopotamus of the previousstage, secondary characters 2008, in this case, skeletal alligators, ascore indicator 2014, progress markers 2015 indicating progress throughthe exercise, and a time indicator 2016. Similar to above, the scoreindicator 2014 may add points to the students score as the studentcorrectly responds to trials, and the time indicator 2016 may provide agraphical illustration of the relative time left for the exercise. Playmay begin when the student selects the selection paw 2004, at whichpoint an analogy 2022 may be presented. As FIG. 20 shows, in thisparticular case, the presented analogy 2022 is: “Automation is toautomated, as anger is to angry.”

In 1906, a set of analogy categories may be presented to the student,e.g., from the plurality of categories, where one of the presentedcategories is that of the presented analogy. As may be seen, in theexample of FIG. 20, the categories presented are: “Synonyms”,“Categories”, “Grammatical Forms”, and “Features”, although it should benoted that these are but exemplary categories, and many other additionalanalogy categories are also contemplated as being included in theanalogy categories used.

In 1908, the student may be required to select a category from the setof categories to categorize the presented analogy 2022. For example, thestudent may click on the speech balloon that contains the selectedcategory. FIG. 21 illustrates the student's selection of “graphicalforms” 2102, since the analogy 2022 is directed to different grammaticalforms of the words automate and anger.

In 1910, a determination may be made as to whether the student selectedthe correct analogy category, and the result stored. As describedpreviously, this result may then be used to drive further operations,such as, for example, the awarding of points to the student, and soforth. Moreover, such results from multiple trials may be used todetermine and/or guide the student's progress through the exercise. Forexample, once all the trials in a unit have been performed, thestudent's degree of success for the unit may be ascertained, and may beused to determine the next unit, level, or stage, to be performed.

As described above, in preferred embodiments, an indication, i.e.,graphical and/or audial, may be provided as to the student's correctness(or incorrectness), e.g., via speakers or headphones. For example, a“thunk” sound may be played indicating incorrectness, or a “ding” may beplayed indicating correctness. In some embodiments, an animation of themain character and/or the secondary characters may also provide such anindication when the selection is correct, e.g., a “correct” animationmay be presented. Of course, any other types of indication may be usedas desired. For example, in one embodiment, as may be seen in FIG. 18,the correct selection of the category may result in highlighting of thecategory or the speech balloon containing the category, e.g., in yellow.A “ding” may be played, and points may be awarded based on thecorrectness of the response. In one embodiment, if bonus points areearned, a special indication may be provided, e.g., 3 dings may beplayed. Note that in one embodiment, this stage, e.g., stage 2, thecategorization stage, may allow the student to move through it quickly,and so while short standard “correct” animations may play, no rewardanimations may be played during this stage.

Similar to the above stage, in one embodiment, if the selection isincorrect, a “thunk” may be played, and the speech balloon containingthe correct category may be highlighted, e.g., in white, and theincorrect ones grayed out. The exercise (or stage) may pause for a shorttime, e.g., for 1 second, to allow the student to read the analogybefore moving on.

As FIG. 19 also indicates, additional analogies from the set ofanalogies may be presented, where, as described above, the student isrequired to select an appropriate category (from additional pluralitiesof categories), and the correctness or incorrectness of each selectiondetermined and stored, as described above. At the end of each trial, ifthe unit is not completed, the next trial may automatically bepresented. In various embodiments, the analogies for a unit may bepresented according to a specified order, or may be presented randomly,as desired. Similarly, the particular group or subset of categories fora unit may be presented randomly, or in accordance with a specifiedorder. Thus, the displaying, the presenting, the requiring, and thedetermining may be performed for each analogy in the set of analogies tobuild vocabulary skills and improve accuracy and fluency in criticalthinking and abstract reasoning.

Moreover, as with stage 1, in preferred embodiments, the displaying theanalogy, the presenting the set of categories, the requiring, and thedetermining may be repeated for each analogy in the set of analogies inan iterative manner, where the repeating builds vocabulary skills andimproves accuracy and fluency in critical thinking and abstractreasoning in the student. In other words, the student may be exposed tothe analogy set (one analogy at a time, in the manner described above)multiple times to facilitate development of the student's vocabulary andreasoning skills. As noted above, such repetition may occur in aplurality of sessions over days, weeks, or even months. Additionally, insome embodiments, the set of analogies may be included in a plurality ofanalogy sets, and the method may include performing the repeating foreach analogy set in the plurality of analogy sets. In one embodiment,each analogy set (or subset) from the plurality of analogy sets may beassociated with a unit directed to analogies from the analogy set, andperforming the repeating for each analogy set in the plurality ofanalogy sets may include performing trials in each unit of a pluralityof units for each level of a plurality of levels, as will be describedin more detail below.

Moreover, in preferred embodiments, the exercise may include performingunits in each of the two stages (of Gator Jam) described above, where,for example, the student may perform units at various levels in stage 1,and then may perform units at various levels in stage 2. In oneembodiment, over the course of the exercise the student may switch backand forth between the two stages numerous times, until all units at alllevels of both stages have been performed (possibly over multiplesessions, of course).

As with stage 1 of Gator Jam, in some embodiments, in stage 2, adictionary icon may be provided whereby the student may invoke help forthe trial, e.g., analogy category definitions, explanations, examples,and so forth. For example, referring again to FIGS. 20 and 21, note thatin this embodiment, each of the alligators has a hat marked with aquestion mark. The student may click on the question mark of aparticular hat to invoke help regarding the analogy category or typepresented by that alligator. For example, in response to such aninvocation, the speech balloons with the analogy types may disappear,and a speech balloon with the definition of the analogy type may bedisplayed. As with the previously described help invocations, a donereading button (or equivalent) may also be displayed in the speechballoon, whereby the student may dismiss the help information and returnto the trial.

Exemplary Content and Progression

The following presents an exemplary embodiment of a content set for theabove-described exercise (Gator Jam), although it should be noted thatthe information is exemplary only, and is not intended to limit theexercise to any particular set of analogies, analogy categories, orprogression sequence or criteria. Note that some of the informationprovided below is directed to stage 1 (analogy completion), while otherinformation is directed to stage 2 (analogy categorization).

Overview

Key Level Vocabulary Content 1 Easy 80 novel analogies 2 Easy 80analogies repeated from Level 1 with non-supportive context 3 Hard 240novel analogies, non-supportive context 4 Challenge 80 novel analogies,son-supportive context Total Content = 400 unique analogies GroupsTrials per (5 items Items Sets Unit Trials per Unit Trials Vocab Analogyof same per (4 groups; Completion Categorization per Level words typestype) group Set = Unit) Stage Stage Level 1 20 12 16 5 4 20  0  80 2 165 4 20 20 160 3 55 12 48 5 12 20 20 480 4 20 11 16 5 4 20 20 160 95 24880

Key Vocabulary

EASY <= CHALLENG- 4th grade HARD ING >= 8th grade level 5th–7th gradelevel level involve auto- geography photograph regeneration biographyinside autograph hemisphere porter reformation uniform conformhorizontal prehistoric intrusive form con- import prejudice ingestionversation artist credulous incredible prescribe dissent scientistcritical innumerable respiration disarmament dentist des- inspectsignature intersection truction atmosphere disbelief internationalsignificant interference telescope discourage interpret spectacletransformation telephone discredit interval spectator translucenttelevision distasteful massive symphony preamble microscope durablemicrophone thermometer precedent detective endanger misfortune translateseismograph relative enlarge misrepresent transmit oceanography hastyenrage negative transport automation angry enrich notable typicalautonomy easy exclusive paragraph vital stratosphere movement festivepassport representative payment formula perimeter navigable experimentvariable

Glossary Definitions:

Definitions may be provided in a built-in glossary for key vocabularyterms and “unfamiliar” context terms. Note that both objective andsubjective criteria may be used to determine whether a term should beconsidered “unfamiliar” in this context. As used herein, in general, aword may be considered “unfamiliar” if it appears on the fifth or sixthgrade list in the Children's Writer's Word Book (Mogilner) or on any ofthe academic word lists in The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists (Fry etal). Educated judgements have been made to eliminate from this set wordsthat were likely to be familiar to most 4th graders, and to add wordsthat were likely to be unfamiliar to many 5th graders.

Exemplary Content Stats (Summary):

The following 12 analogy types may be presented at least once in levels1, 2, and 3 (Creator and Creation is not included in level 4). Someanalogy types may be presented in multiple sets within each level.

Easy Hard Challenging Analogy type Analogies Analogies Analogies Total 1Synonyms 5 35 15 55 2 Antonyms 5 30 15 50 3 Weaker and Stronger 5 20 530 4 Categories 10 10 5 25 5 Part to Whole 5 15 5 25 6 Grammatical Forms10 25 10 45 7 Features 10 35 5 50 8 Locations 5 15 5 25 9 Cause andEffect 5 10 5 20 10 Creator and Creation 5 5 5 15 11 Functions 10 25 540 12 Tools 5 15 0 20 Total 80 240 80 400

Progression: Terms:

Term General definition Exercise-specific definition Trial The stimulusand Stage 1: response options Stimulus = incomplete analogy presented toa student; 4 Response options: words/phrase to complete analogy responseis evaluated as correct or incorrect Stage 2: Stimulus = Completedanalogy 4 Response options: analogy type Unit the smallest group ofStage 1: A total of 20 trials, taken from a single trials to beevaluated for content set (5 trials from each category) advancementStage 2: no evaluation Category a subset of the content The category isdefined by the analogy type set, defined by having (e.g., Synonyms):common characteristics Stage 1: The student selects which analogy typeto work on from the selection screen. Stage 2: The student categorizesthe analogy by clicking on the correct analogy type Set content set fromwhich A set of 4 categories (analogy types) presented trials are sampledor together taken to create a unit Stage One of multiple activitiesStage 1: Completion: student completes the analogy performed by astudent on a set of content; Stage 2: Categorization: student selectsthe presentation of content is correct analogy type. Stage 2 ispresented only dependent upon passing after Stage 1 is passed. samecontent at a previous stage Level grouping of sets Level: grouped byVocabulary, Supporting designated as Context hierarchically equivalentLevel 1: Easy, supportive context based on one or more Level 2: Easy,non-supportive context shared attributes Level 3: Hard, non-supportivecontext Level 4: Challenging, non-supportive context Level Attributes bywhich sets Vocabulary (Easy <= 4^(th) grade; Hard 5^(th)–7^(th)Attributes are grouped into levels grade; Challenge >= 8^(th) grade oracademic) (or sublevels). The Context: Supportive vs. Non-supportiveattributes and the context (non-supportive for categorization hierarchyassigned to the stage) attributes may differ across exercises.

Order of Progression:

In one embodiment, the student may progress through the content in theorder in which it is shown in the chart below. The trials within eachcategory may be presented in random order.

level- Set- category- id ids ids Categories (analogy types) 1 1 1, 2, 3,4 Synonyms, Antonyms, Weaker and Stronger, Categories 2 4, 5, 6, 7Categories, Part to Whole, Grammatical Forms, Features 3 6, 8, 9, 11Grammatical Forms, Locations, Cause and Effect, Functions 4 7, 10, 11,Features, Creator and Creation, Functions, Tools 12 2 1 4, 6, 9, 12Categories, Grammatical Forms, Cause and Effect, Tools 2 1, 3, 8, 11Synonyms, Weaker and Stronger, Locations, Functions 3 2, 5, 7, 11Antonyms, Part to Whole, Features, Functions 4 4, 6, 7, 10 Categories,Grammatical Forms, Features, Creator and Creation 3 1 1, 4, 6, 7Synonyms, Categories, Grammatical Forms, Features 2 1, 2, 5, 12Synonyms, Antonyms, Part to Whole, Tools 3 1, 3, 6, 7 Synonyms, Weakerand Stronger, Grammatical Forms, Features 4 2, 5, 7, 10 Antonyms, Partto Whole, Features, Creator and Creation 5 1, 8, 11, Synonyms,Locations, Functions, Tools 12 6 2, 3, 7, 11 Antonyms, Weaker andStronger, Features, Functions 7 1, 8, 9, 12 Synonyms, Locations, Causeand Effect, Tools 8 2, 6, 7, 8 Antonyms, Grammatical Forms, Features,Locations 9 1, 3, 5, 11 Synonyms, Weaker and Stronger, Part to Whole,Functions 10 6, 7, 9, 11 Grammatical Forms, Features, Cause and Effect,Functions 11 1, 2, 4, 11 Synonyms, Antonyms, Categories, Functions 12 2,3, 6, 7 Antonyms, Weaker and Stronger, Grammatical Forms, Features 4 11, 4, 6, 7 Synonyms, Categories, Grammatical Forms, Features 2 2, 5, 8,10 Antonyms, Part to Whole, Locations, Creator and Creation 3 1, 2, 6, 9Synonyms, Antonyms, Grammatical Forms, Cause and Effect 4 1, 2, 3, 11Synonyms, Antonyms, Weaker and Stronger, Functions

Evaluation of Trial:

Stage 1, Completion: A trial may be evaluated as correct if the studentclicks on the correct word to complete the analogy. Trials that areevaluated as correct may be be awarded points. If the student clicks onthe dictionary icon, and then answers the trial correctly, the studentmay receive fewer points, but the trial may still be counted as correctfor the purposes of advancement. If the student clicks on the incorrectbin, the trial may be “failed” and the student may receive no points.

Stage 2, Categorization: Trials in the categorization round may not beevaluated for the purpose of advancement, but may be evaluated ascorrect or incorrect for the purpose of data reporting and awarding ofpoints. A trial may be evaluated as correct if the student clicks on thecorrect analogy type. Trials that are evaluated as correct may beawarded points. If the student clicks on the dictionary icon, and thenanswers the trial correctly, the student may receive fewer points, butthe trial may still be counted as correct. If the student clicks on theincorrect bin, the trial may be “failed” and the student may receive nopoints.

Evaluation of Unit: Stage 1: Completion

A unit is preferably comprised of 20 trials. Each unit may randomlypresent 5 items from each category as it is selected from the selectionscreen. The exercise may track the number of correct trials in eachcategory. After 20 trials, the unit may be evaluated for advancement.

Stage 2: Categorization

In Stage 2, the 20 trials from the last unit passed may be randomlypresented for categorization. These trials may not be evaluated foradvancement.

Advancement: Stage 1: Completion

In order to pass a unit, the student may be required to answer 18 out of20 trials correctly (90%), although other passing thresholds may be usedas desired. Additionally, the student may be required to answer at least4 out of 5 trials in each category within the unit correctly. If theunit is passed, the student may advance to the next selection screenpresenting the next unit (e.g., level 1 only) or to stage 2 for thecurrent unit (levels 2-4). If the unit is failed, the student may returnto the selection screen for the current unit with all categories againavailable for selection. The student may be required to repeat alltrials in the unit and may be given a total of 3 attempts to pass theunit.

Stage 2: Categorization:

Stage 2 trials are not evaluated for advancement.

Plateau Based Transition:

If after 3 attempts, the student has not met the criteria for passingthe unit, the student may transition to the next selection screenpresenting the next unit. The student may not advance to Stage 2 of aunit if the unit was not passed at Stage 1. After all units in theexercise have been completed (passed or failed 3 times), those unitsthat were not passed may be repeated, using the same progression andrules of advancement as when they were originally presented. The studentmay continue to work on these units until mastery is achieved.

Exit and Re-Entry:

The student may be allowed to manually exit or time out prior to anytrial.

If the student exits during stage 1, completion, and they have notcompleted the current unit, they may always be returned to the selectionscreen. If they did not complete all 5 trials of the category they werein when they exited, that category may still be available on theselection screen, and when they select it again, they may be presentedwith all 5 trials. Those trials previously worked on for that categorymay not be counted.

If the student exits immediately prior to or during stage 2,categorization, upon re-entry they may be returned to the exact trialfrom which they exited; they may not be presented with any of the sametrials they completed prior to exiting.

Progress Markers:

Progress through the exercise (comparable to percent-through) may bemarked by the addition of a total of 5 markers (e.g., moon phases). Thefirst 4 markers may be awarded after 5 units have been passed. The lastmarker may be awarded after 4 units have been passed. The total numberof markers may be 5.

End of Exercise:

The exercise may ends when the student has met passing criteria in allunits. It may then return to the wrapper, e.g., the startup screen, viaa “Good Job” screen.

FIG. 22—Detailed Progression Through Gator Jam Exercise

FIG. 22 flowcharts a computer-implemented method for building vocabularyskills and improving accuracy and fluency in critical thinking andabstract reasoning by working with important semantic/grammaticalrelationships among words via a computing device, according to oneembodiment. More specifically, the method is directed to performance ofunits in the Gator Jam exercise, including units in stage 1 and stage 2of the exercise. Note that the method of FIG. 22 is applicable to, andmay include, the methods of FIGS. 14 and 19 (and vice versa). As notedabove, in various embodiments, some of the method elements described maybe performed concurrently, in a different order than described, or maybe omitted. Additional method elements may be performed as desired. AsFIG. 22 shows, the method may be performed as follows:

In 2202, a next unit (initially, for example, a first unit at level 1)in stage 1 (analogy completion) of the exercise may be initialized forperformance by the student. In one embodiment, the unit may include 20trials directed to various sets of a plurality of categories, where, forexample, each set may include four categories from the plurality ofcategories. Examples of analogy categories include, but are not limitedto, synonyms, antonyms, weaker and stronger, categories, part to whole,grammatical forms, and features, among others. As described above, theparticular sets may be specified for use with regard to performance ofparticular units, as may be seen above in the Order of Progressiontable. The categories in a particular set may be presented in aspecified order, or in a random order, as desired. Note that as unitsare performed in sequence, the level may be incremented, e.g., inaccordance with the Order of Progression table presented above.

In 2204, a selection screen may be displayed wherein a set (i.e., asubset) of the plurality of categories may be presented to the student.In some embodiments, definitions, explanations, and/or examples, of thepresented categories may be available to the student, as described abovein detail (see, e.g., FIG. 15 and associated text).

In 2206, user input may be received selecting a category from thepresented set of categories. In other words, the student may select,e.g., via a mouse click, one of the presented categories.

In 2208, trials directed to the selected category may be performed. Forexample, in one embodiment, 5 trials in the selected category may bepresented and performed. In various embodiments, the particular trialsmay be presented and performed in random order, or according to aspecified order.

In 2209, a determination may be made as to whether the selected categorywas the last in the presented set of categories.

If in 2209, it is determined that the selected category is not the lastcategory in the presented set, then in 2210, the category may be madeunavailable for re-selection in the current unit. The method may thenproceed back to 2204, where the selection screen (with the set ofcategories) may be displayed, and where, for example, as describedabove, the category may be grayed out in the display, indicating itsunavailability. The method may then continue from 2204 as describedabove.

If in 2209, it is determined that the selected category was the lastcategory in the presented set, then the current unit has been completedand may be evaluated. In 2211, a determination may be made as to whethera specified level of success has been met by the student with respect tothe unit, e.g., whether 18 of the 20 trials in the unit were performedcorrectly.

If 18 of the 20 trials in the unit were not performed correctly, then in2213, a determination may be made as to whether the unit has been faileda specified number of times, e.g., if this was the third try at passingthe unit.

If the unit has not been failed the specified number of time, e.g., ifthis was not the third try at passing the unit, then in 2214, the unitmay be repeated, as shown, continuing with 2202, and proceeding asdescribed above, initializing and performing trials in the unit. Inother words, in 2214, the unit may be marked or otherwise indicated forrepeating, and then the method may proceed with 2202, 2204, 2206, and soforth, as described above.

If in 2213, it is determined that the unit has been failed the specifiednumber of times, e.g., three times, then in 2216, the unit may be keptopen for performance at the end of the exercise. Thus, any unit that hasbeen failed the specified number of times may be retained (and keptopen) for repeat performance by the student at the end of the exercise.The method may then proceed to 2224, described below.

If in 2211, it is determined that the specified number of trials in theunit were performed correctly, e.g., that (at least) 18 of the 20 trialsin the unit were performed correctly, then in 2217, a determination maybe made as to whether a specified level of success was achieved by thestudent with respect to trials in each of the presented categories. Forexample, in one embodiment, the method may determine if ⅘ (i.e., 80%) ofthe categories in the unit were performed correctly, i.e., if 80% of thetrials in each category of the unit were performed correctly. If not,then the method may proceed to 2213, and continue as described above.Thus, passing the unit may involve multiple criteria, e.g., with respectto the trials in the unit, and with respect to the trials in eachcategory.

If in 2217, it is determined that the specified level of success wasachieved by the student with respect to trials in each of the presentedcategories in the unit (e.g., 80% success in each category, then in2219, a determination may be made as to whether the current level isgreater than one, i.e., if the level>1. If not, then the method mayproceed to 2224, described below.

If in 2217 it is determined that the current level is greater than one,then in 2220, a screen for stage 2 of the exercise may be displayed. Inother words, the initial screen for the analogy categorization task orstage may be presented to the student.

A next unit of the analogy categorization stage (stage 2) may then beperformed. For example, in one embodiment, 20 trials from the pluralityof analogies, e.g., from the set of analogies, may be presented andperformed, as indicated in 2222. Note that, as above, in variousembodiments, the trials may be presented in random order, or accordingto a specified order, as desired.

In 2223, a determination may be made as to whether there are any moretrials in the set to be performed, i.e., whether the trial justperformed is the last of the set. If not, then the method may return to2222, and perform a further trial in the set, and continue as describedabove. If there are not further trials in the set, then the method mayproceed to 2224. Note that in one embodiment, the trials performed in2222 may be directed to analogies from the unit performed immediatelypreviously in stage 1, where, as indicated in 2219 above, the level isgreater than 1.

In 2224, a next unit may be marked or indicated for presentation andperformance by the student, and the method may proceed to 2202 andcontinue as described above. The method may thus proceed in an iterativemanner, presenting trials in units in multiple levels, and in bothstages (i.e., analogy completion, and analogy categorization), until theexercise has been completed.

As described above, the exercise may be performed multiple times, aswell, e.g., over a plurality of sessions, possibly over days, weeks, oreven months, to build vocabulary skills and improve accuracy and fluencyin critical thinking and abstract reasoning by working with importantsemantic/grammatical relationships among words.

Exercise 3: Toad Loader

The goal of this exercise (i.e., Toad Loader) is to build accuracy andfluency in recognizing and constructing sentence structures, varying inthe use of inflections and grammatical forms.

In this exercise, the student constructs multiple sentences to describeeach of a plurality of illustrations, developing the grammatical skillsand flexibility to put ideas into words with varied sentence structure.More specifically, the student may build a sentence that describes theassociated illustration by selecting the correct words or word groupsfrom a set of foils. Multiple sentences about an illustration may usesimilar vocabulary with a different grammatical structure, so that thestudent experiences using different sentences to express similar ideas.In some embodiments, across the exercise, a number (e.g., 15) ofgrammatical structures are covered, including, for example, passivevoice, appositive phrases, and compound sentences, as well as pronounsand articles commonly confused, e.g., by English language learners.Alternate responses may be carefully constructed so that the studentmust attend to semantic, morphological, and syntactic aspects of thewords or word groups they are putting together. As the studentprogresses, the sentences presented may become longer, use higher-levelvocabulary, and may become more grammatically complex.

The exercise may develop various cognitive skills in the student, suchas memory, e.g., by using working memory to keep track of availablewords and phrases while constructing possible sentences, attention,e.g., by selectively attending to grammatical features of words andphrases, processing, by using language processing skills to identifywritten words and phrases and to construct and analyze possiblesentences, and sequencing, by manipulating word order to build a varietyof grammatical sentences. Aspects of the exercise may develop thestudent's sentence structure skill by improving the student's ability toidentify and correctly use prepositional phrases, appositives, andindependent and dependent clauses; use transitions and conjunctions toconnect ideas, and may develop the student's grammar skills by improvingthe student's ability to identify and correctly use verbs that are oftenmisused (e.g., lie/lay), modifiers, and pronouns. Additionally, usage ofarticles and pronouns may be targeted, as a feature designed to assist(e.g., English) language students.

FIG. 23—Method for Building Accuracy and Fluency in Recognizing andConstructing Sentence Structures

FIG. 23 is a flowchart diagram of a method for building accuracy andfluency in recognizing and constructing sentence structures via acomputing device, according to one embodiment. As noted above, invarious embodiments, some of the method elements described may beperformed concurrently, in a different order than described, or may beomitted. Additional method elements may be performed as desired. As FIG.23 shows, the method may be performed as follows:

In 2302, a set of pictures or illustrations and correspondingdescriptive sentences may be provided. As with the above-describedexercises, in preferred embodiments, a graphical user interface (GUI)may be provided whereby the exercise may be performed.

FIG. 24 illustrates an exemplary screenshot 2400 of an introductoryscreen for the Toad Loader exercise. As FIG. 24 shows, (and as withFIGS. 7 and 16, described above) the screen includes the name of thestudent 2402, an initiation button, in this case, a selection paw 2404,also referred to as an OR button, and a cursor 2406. To begin a trial,the student may move the cursor 2406 over the selection paw 2404 andindicate the selection, e.g., by clicking the mouse. The screen furtherincludes a main character, in this case, a toad (or frog) 2412, a scoreindicator 2414, progress markers 2415 indicating progress through theexercise, and a time indicator 2416. The score indicator 2414 may addpoints to the students score as the student correctly responds totrials. The time indicator 2416 may provide a graphical illustration ofthe relative time left for the exercise. As FIG. 24 also shows, in thisembodiment, a picture display 2408 is provided for displaying pictures,and a sentence box 2410 is included for constructing and displayingdescriptive sentences. Exercise play may begin when the student selectsthe selection paw 2404.

In 2304, a picture from the set of pictures may be displayed, e.g., on adisplay of a computing device. For example, the picture may include oneor more characters (preferably not the main character of the exercise),e.g., anthropomorphic animal characters, performing an action, orinvolved in an illustrated situation or scene. In one embodiment, aninitial portion of a sentence describing the picture may be provided,e.g., in the sentence box 2410, e.g., in a first level (i.e., level 1)of the exercise, although in some embodiments, e.g., in subsequentlevels, no initial sentence portion may be provided.

In 2306, a plurality of sentence segments may then be presented, e.g.,from the set of corresponding sentences. For example, a set of (e.g.,four) words and/or phrases may be presented to the student, where one ofthe words or phrases may at least partially describe the displayedpicture, e.g., may be from a descriptive sentence (from the set ofdescriptive sentences) corresponding to the picture.

FIG. 25 illustrates another exemplary screenshot from the Toad Loadexercise, in this case, at level 1. In this Figure, the picture display2408 shows a character, e.g., a rabbit, holding a water balloon andlooking down from an upper story window at a group of other animalcharacters, specifically, ducks, singing and playing jump rope. In thesentence box 2410, an exemplary initial sentence portion is shown:“Three jolly ducks”. In this example, presented sentence segments 2504include: “sing a song and”, “with a water balloon”, “look up at arabbit”, and “sing song and”.

In 2308, the student may be required to select a sentence segment fromthe presented sentence segments that correctly or most appropriatelyfurthers construction of the descriptive sentence, e.g., that isgrammatically and descriptively most appropriate, e.g., by clicking onthe sentence segment, although any other means for selection may also beused as desired.

FIG. 26 illustrates user selection of a sentence segment 2602 (“sing asong and”), where the selection is shown highlighted in white.

Once the student has selected a sentence segment, a determination may bemade as to whether the selection is correct, as indicated in 2310.Following the example of 2304 and 2306, the correct sentence segment is“sing a song and”, as adding this sentence segment to the sentenceportion results in the grammatically and descriptively correct sentencefragment: “Three jolly ducks sing a song and”.

If the student made the correct selection, the correct sentence segmentmay be highlighted, e.g., a box containing the sentence segment may behighlighted in yellow, and added to the sentence box 2410, resulting ina grammatically correct sentence portion or fragment, describing thepicture, although in some embodiments, the resulting sentenceconstruction may be a complete sentence, as will be described below.

If the student selected in incorrect sentence segment, the correctsentence segment may be highlighted, e.g., a box containing the sentencesegment may be highlighted in white, and added to the sentence box 2410,e.g., in blue text, and the incorrect selections or foils may be dimmedor grayed out, or otherwise modified to indicate their incorrectness.

FIG. 27 illustrates the addition of the selected (correct) sentencesegment to the sentence box, resulting in the sentence construction:“Three jolly ducks sing a song and” 2702.

Moreover, as with the above exercises, in preferred embodiments, anindication, i.e., graphical and/or audial, may be provided as to thestudent's correctness (or incorrectness), e.g., via speakers orheadphones. For example, a “thunk” sound may be played indicatingincorrectness, or a “ding” may be played indicating correctness andpoints awarded (or, as above, in the case of bonus points, 3 “dings” maybe played). In some embodiments, an animation of the main characterand/or the secondary characters may also provide such an indication whenthe selection is correct, e.g., a “correct” animation may be presented.Of course, any other types of indication may be used as desired. In oneembodiment, an animation may be presented when the student begins atrial, e.g., the main character may present the picture, and one or moresecondary characters may present the sentence segments. Similarly, theremoval of previous pictures and/or sentence segments may be animated.

Note that in some embodiments, an incorrect selection may result infailure of the current trial, unit, and/or level, where failed units maybe repeated (possibly a number of times) later, e.g., at the end of thecurrent level, and/or at the end of the exercise, as will be describedin detail below. For example, in one embodiment, all sentences fromfailed units for a given picture may be (re)presented before moving onto another picture, and all failed units in a level may be (re)presentedbefore moving on to another level. Thus, in some embodiments, each unitmay be performed until either the unit is passed, or the unit has beenfailed a specified number of times (e.g., 3 times), where the additionalperformances (beyond the first failure) may be performed just after thefirst failure, and/or at the end of the level. Moreover, the units thathave been failed the specified number of times may be repeated at theend of the exercise until all units have been passed.

In 2311, a determination may be made as to whether the sentenceconstruction is complete, i.e., is a complete sentence. If the sentenceis not yet complete, then the current trial is not finished, and themethod may proceed to 2306, where a new plurality of sentence segmentspertaining to the picture may be presented, and the method may continueas described above until the sentence in the sentence box 2410 iscomplete. Once the sentence is complete, the student may be given sometime, e.g., 2 seconds, to read the completed sentence before proceedingto the next sentence.

FIG. 28 is an exemplary screen shot of the Toad Loader exercise showinga new set of sentence segments pertaining to the picture, where thepresented sentence segments include: “watch these rabbits”, “watch thatrabbit”, “play with ropes”, and “play with a rope”. As FIG. 28 alsoindicates, the student has correctly selected “play with a rope” 2802.FIG. 29 is an exemplary screenshot showing the correctly completedsentence 2902: “Three jolly ducks sing a song and play with a rope.” Inpreferred embodiments, the interactive process of sentence constructionresulting in a complete sentence composes a trial in the exercise. Inother words, there is preferably one trial per sentence, although theremay be multiple presentations/responses for each sentence, as describedabove.

If in 2311, it is determined that the sentence is complete, then in2313, a determination may be made as to whether there are furthersentences to be constructed with respect to the displayed picture. Forexample, in one embodiment, each picture may have a specified number ofassociated sentences, e.g., 5, which target multiple grammaticalstructures. Note that, as described below in detail, in preferredembodiments, each response for each sentence segment may be evaluated ascorrect or incorrect (see 2310, above) and points awarded after eachcorrect response. However, the entire trial may not be evaluated ascorrect unless all segments of the sentence have been selectedcorrectly. In this case, additional points may be awarded when thesentence is completed.

If in 2311, it is determined that there are further sentences (i.e., oneor more) associated with the current picture, then the method may, forexample, clear the sentence box of the previous sentence and remove theprevious presented sentence segments, and the method may proceed to2306, where a new plurality of sentence segments pertaining to thepicture may be presented, and the method may continue as describedabove.

If in 2311, it is determined that there are no further sentences to beconstructed with respect to the current picture, then the method mayproceed to 2304, where a new picture, i.e., the next picture, may bepresented, and the method may continue as described above. In oneembodiment, the user may use the initiation button (e.g., selection paw2404) to invoke the next picture.

Thus, as FIG. 23 indicates, additional pictures from the set of picturesmay be presented, where, as described above, the student is required toselect appropriate sentence segments, and the correctness orincorrectness of each selection determined and stored, as describedabove. Note that the various pluralities of sentence segments used toconstruct a sentence are presented in a specified order (as opposed torandomly), such that the sentence is constructed from beginning to end,i.e., from left to right, in the same way that the completed sentencemay be read. In other words, each of the (correct) sentence segments ina unit is successive to the previously presented (correct) sentencesegment. Similarly, the trials or sentences directed to a picture may bepresented in a specified order, e.g., not randomly. Thus, thedisplaying, the presenting, the requiring, and the determining may beperformed for each sentence or sentence portion directed to each picturein the set of pictures to build accuracy and fluency in recognizing andconstructing sentence structures.

Moreover, in preferred embodiments, the displaying the picture, thepresenting the plurality of sentence segments, the requiring, and thedetermining may be repeated for each picture and corresponding group ofsentences, where the repeating builds accuracy and fluency inrecognizing and constructing sentence structures in the student. Inother words, the student may be exposed to the picture/sentence set (onepicture/group of sentences at a time, in the manner described above)multiple times to facilitate development of the student's sentenceconstruction, grammar, and reasoning skills. As noted above, suchrepetition may occur in a plurality of sessions over days, weeks, oreven months. Additionally, in some embodiments, the set ofpictures/sentences may be included in a plurality of picture/sentencesets, and the method may include performing the repeating for eachpicture/sentence set in the plurality of picture/sentence sets.

As the student completes the trials (e.g., 5 trials) for each picture,the student may progress through a plurality of levels, where, forexample, the sentence construction may be increasingly difficult orsubtle, and/or may be focused on various different structural elements.In one embodiment, a unit may refer to trials directed to a respective(sentence) structure type within a level, where, for example, the numberof trials in each unit may vary between units. Detailed informationregarding units, levels, and progression through them, is providedbelow.

Thus, performing the repeating for each picture/sentence set in theplurality of picture/sentence sets may include performing trials in eachunit of a plurality of units for each level of a plurality of levels, aswill be described in more detail below. As also indicated above, suchperforming with respect to the multiple picture/sentence sets may itselfbe repeated in an iterative manner, e.g., over a plurality of sessions,as described above, to facilitate development of the student's sentenceconstruction, grammar, and reasoning skills.

In one embodiment, the method may also include performing introductoryor training trials, where, for example, initially instructions may beprovided explaining what is expected of the student in the exercise, andthen example trials performed where the correct sentence segments areindicated to the student. After the introductory or training trials arecompleted, the student may begin the actual trials of the exercise, asdescribed above.

Exemplary Content and Progression

The following presents an exemplary embodiment of a content set for theabove-described exercise (Toad Loader), although it should be noted thatthe information is exemplary only, and is not intended to limit theexercise to any particular set of pictures, sentences, sentencesegments, or progression sequence or criteria.

Overview:

Trials Grammar per Sentence Sentence Structures Structure Level VocabType Stem Length (unit) (unit) Trials Pictures 1 Easy All yes 4–16 15  4 60 12 2 Easy Low to no 4–12 11 9–10 100 20 Moderate Complexity 3 HardLow to no 4–12 11 9–10 100 20 Moderate Complexity 4 Easy Moderate no10–24 10 10 100 20 to High Complexity 5 Hard Moderate no 10–24 10 10 10020 to High Complexity Total 57 460 92

Vocabulary:

Easy vocabulary items may use 4th grade level terms or lower. Hardvocabulary items may also include 5th & 6th grade level terms andacademic terms.

Grammatical structures:

There may be a total of 15 grammatical structures. Multiple grammaticalstructures may be distributed across each level. For example, in oneembodiment, the first (introductory) level, may expose students to all15 of the targeted grammatical structures. Levels 2 and 3 may contain 11structures that can occur in simple sentences. Levels 4 and 5 maycontain 10 structures. Five relatively simple structures (which are notin some (e.g., California) curriculum standards) may not be included inthese levels. Two structures that involve non-simple sentences may beadded in these levels.

Structure type-id Structure type Sentence sample Levels 1Attributive/stative: SV The girl is quick. 1, 2, 3 2 Simple negation Theboy is not walking a dog. 1, 2, 3 3 Infinitival complement to The girlasked to hold the baby. 1, 2, 3 verb 4 Passive voice: OVS The apple waseaten by the girl in 1, 2, 3 present & past red. 5 *Articles: definite &She swims twice a week. 1, 2, 3 indefinite 6 *Appositive phrase Mr.Smith, the political candidate, is ALL saluting the stallions. 7 *Prepphrases mod S, V, The kids jump on the bed. ALL or O 8 *Prep phrases +sentence Inside the cave there is a bear ALL sleeping soundly. 9*Pronoun (case & She and I will go to the parade. ALL person/order) 10*Commonly misused All that sawing raises a cloud of ALL verbs sawdust.11 *Simple Modifier He will sweep the sidewalk ALL completely clean. 12Subject relativization: The woman who chases the dog has a 1, 4, 5 S +mod + VO stick. 13 Object relativization: The baby pets a dog that issleeping. 1, 4, 5 SVO + mod 14 *Complex Sent. The criminal was holding abag of 1, 4, 5 (Independent and money, when the sheriff grabbed him.Dependent Clauses with Transition) 15 *Compound Sent. The criminal washoping to escape; 1, 4, 5 (Multiple Independent however, the sheriffgrabbed him. Clauses with Conjunction or Transition) *New structures(not covered in “Language Comprehension Builder” in Fast ForWordLanguage or “Twisted Pictures in Fast ForWord to Reading 3)

Foils:

Each item may have at least one grammatical foil and at least onesemantic foil. Grammatical foils may be semantically appropriate butungrammatical in the target position and/or following the precedingfragments. Semantic foils may refer to items, actions, or relationshipsnot relevant to the picture or semantically inappropriate for some otherreason (e.g., repeating already stated information).

Progression:

Term General definition Exercise-specific definition Trial Stimulus andresponse Level 1: Stimulus = picture + sentence stem options presentedto a Level 2: Stimulus = picture only student; response is Responseoptions: 4 response options presented evaluated for each remainingsentence segment; all segments must be correct to evaluate trial ascorrect Unit the smallest group of Within a level, all trials(sentences) of the same trials to be evaluated for structure type. Thesetrials will be distributed advancement across entire level. Level 1: 15units, 4 trials each Levels 2, 3: 11 units, 9–10 trials each Levels 4,5: 10 units, 10 trials each Level Grouping of content Levels 1–5:grouped based on Vocabulary, designated as Sentence Type, and SentenceLength. hierarchically equivalent based on one or more shared attributesLevel Attributes by which Level 1: introductory level presents easy,short Attributes content is grouped into sentences, all sentencestructures and includes levels (or sublevels). sentence stem. Theattributes and the Other levels are grouped based on: hierarchy assignedto the Vocabulary: difficulty level of vocabulary attributes may differEasy 4^(th) grade or lower across exercises. Hard: 5^(th) and 6^(th)grade + academic Sentence type: simple, compound/complex SentenceLength: Ave. # of words in passage:

Order of Progression:

The student may progress through the content by level as shown in thechart below. The pictures may be presented in random order within alevel. The trials (sentences) for a given picture may not be presentedrandomly, but may be presented sequentially, e.g., based on sentencenumber.

Sentence Picture id (per Advancement Level Id picture) Units Criteria 1 1–12 1–5 15 4/4 2 13–32 1–5 11 8/9, 9/10 3 53–72 1–5 11 8/9, 9/10 433–52 1–5 10 9/10 5 73–92 1–5 10 9/10

Evaluation of Trial:

A trial may be considered to be ALL segment selections for a givensentence. Each response for each sentence segment may be evaluated ascorrect or incorrect and points awarded after each correct response.However, the entire trial may not be evaluated as correct unless allsegments of the sentence were selected correctly. In this case,additional points may be awarded when the sentence is completed. Notethat the trial may be considered incorrect if any incorrect response ismade for any segment of the sentence, but the student may still bepresented with the remaining segments of the sentence and may earnpoints for each correct segment.

Evaluation of Unit:

A unit may comprise the total number of trials of the same structuretype within a level. The number of units may vary for each level, asdescribed in the progression chart above. After all trials in a unithave been presented, the unit may be evaluated. At the end of the level,the evaluation status of all units may be used to determine advancementto the next level.

Advancement:

In order to pass a unit, the student preferably must meet theadvancement criteria as presented in the progression chart above. At theend of the level, any units for which the criteria were not met may bepresented again, following the original progression rules (All sentencesfrom failed units for a given picture may be presented before moving onto another picture.)

Plateau Based Transition:

In one embodiment, if after 3 attempts, the student has not met thecriteria for passing the all units within a level, the student maytransition to the next level. After all units in the exercise have beencompleted (passed or failed 3 times), those units that were not passedmay be repeated, using the same progression and rules of advancement aswhen they were originally presented. The student may continue to work onthese units until mastery is achieved, e.g., until the units are passed.

Exit and Re-Entry:

The student may time out or exit at any time, except when a trial is inprogress. A trial may be considered in progress until all segments ofthe sentence have been completed. Re-entry may return the student to thepoint from which they exited

Progress Markers:

Progress through the exercise (comparable to percent-through) may bemarked by the addition of a total of 5 markers. The first 2 markers maybe awarded after every 12 units passed. The last 3 markers may beawarded after every 11 units passed. The total number of markers may be5.

End of Exercise:

The exercise may ends when the student has met passing criteria in allunits. It may then return to the wrapper, e.g., the startup screen, viaa “Good Job” screen.

FIG. 30—Detailed Progression Through Gator Jam Exercise

FIG. 30 flowcharts a computer-implemented method for building accuracyand fluency in recognizing and constructing sentence structures via acomputing device, according to one embodiment. More specifically, themethod is directed to performance of units in the Toad Loader exercise.Note that the method of FIG. 30 is applicable to, and may include, themethod of FIG. 23 (and vice versa), and the description below may referto various figures and passages directed to that method for brevity.Moreover, any of the aspects described above with respect to the methodof FIG. 23 may be considered applicable to the method of FIG. 30 (andvice versa). As noted above, in various embodiments, some of the methodelements described may be performed concurrently, in a different orderthan described, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may beperformed as desired. As FIG. 30 shows, the method may be performed asfollows:

In 3002, a next picture may be displayed to the student, e.g., see, forexample, the picture of FIG. 25, after which a trial may be initiated,as indicated in 3004.

In 3006, a next sentence segment may be presented to the student, e.g.,along with a set of foils or alternate answers, as described at lengthabove with reference to 2306 of FIG. 23, and the above-describedrequiring the selection (2308) and determination of correctness (2310)performed.

In 3007, a determination may be made as to whether this is the lastsegment in the sentence, i.e., if the current sentence construction iscomplete, i.e., is a complete sentence, as described above in 2311.

If the sentence is not yet complete, then the current trial is notfinished, and the method may proceed to 3006, where the next sentencesegment may be presented, e.g., along with a new set of foils, and themethod may continue as shown. In other words, as described above withreference to 2306, a new plurality of sentence segments pertaining tothe picture may be presented, and the method may continue as describedabove until the sentence is complete.

If in 3007, it is determined that this was the last sentence segment forthe sentence, then in 3009, a determination may be made as to whetherthere are any trials remaining in the current unit, where, as notedabove, a unit comprises all trials in a particular level that aredirected to a given structure type, e.g., to a respective grammarstructure of the presented sentences. Thus, per level, each unit may bedirected to a respect structure type. If there are further trials in thecurrent unit, then the method may proceed to 3011, as shown.

If in 3009, it is determined that there are no further trials toperformed in the current unit, then in 3010, the unit may be evaluated.For example, in one embodiment, if the student correctly performed alltrials in the unit, then the unit is passed, otherwise, the unit failsor is failed. Once the unit has been evaluated, the method may proceedto 3011.

In 3011, a determination may be made as to whether the current trial,i.e., the last trial performed, was the last trial for the currentpicture. For example, the method may determine whether there are furthersentences to be constructed regarding the current presented picture. Ifthis was not the last trial for the picture, then the method may proceedto 3004, where a new trial may be initiated, and the method may continueas described above.

If in 3011, it is determined that the trial was the last trial for thecurrent picture, then in 3013, a determination may be made as to whetherthere are further trials in the current level.

If there are further trials in the current level, then the method mayproceed to 3002, where a next picture may be displayed, as shown, andthe method may continue as described above. However, if there are nofurther trials to be performed in the current level, then the method mayproceed to 3015.

In 3015, a determination may be made as to whether all units in thecurrent level have either been passed, or failed a specified number oftimes, e.g., 3 times. If not, then the failed (e.g., less than 3 times)units of the level may be repeated, as indicated in 3016. In otherwords, trials in any units that have been failed, but less than thespecified number of times, may be performed, as indicated. Note that, asdescribed above, units that have been failed the specified number oftimes may be retained for performance at the end of the exercise, aswill be seen below.

If all units of the level have either been passed or failed thespecified number of times, then in 3017 a determination may be made asto whether there are further units to be performed in the exercise. Ifthere are further open units remaining, then the method may proceed to3024, where the next level is initiated and the method may continue asdescribed above.

If in 3017, it is determined that there are no further units to beperformed in the exercise, then in 3019, a determination may be made asto whether there are any failed units in the exercise, i.e., units thathave not been passed, and if there are no failed units, then theexercise may be exited, as shown in 3020, otherwise, the method mayproceed to 3022.

In 3022, all failed units in the exercise, i.e., those that have notbeen passed, may be repeated, beginning with level 1. In other words,any units that have not been passed may be performed according to level,i.e., beginning with level 1, and performing all failed (as yetunpassed) units in each successive level, as indicated by theprogression to 3024, where a next level is initiated, and the method maycontinue as described above.

Thus, various embodiments of the methods described above may buildaccuracy and fluency in recognizing and constructing sentence structuresin the student.

Exercise 4: Lana's Lanes

The goal of this exercise (i.e., Lana's Lanes) is to build skills inaccurate text comprehension and the use of comprehension strategies,when reading fiction and nonfiction texts that include literarystructures and devices.

In this exercise, the student may work with various comprehensionstrategies, e.g., four of the seven critical comprehension strategies asidentified by the National Reading Panel: graphic/semantic organizers,summarization, question answering, and using multiple strategies. Newstrategies may be introduced with highly scaffolded tasks, but asstudents progress this scaffolding may be reduced and students may workmore independently with the strategy. Comprehension questions mayinitially focus on literal facts, but as student progresses, inferentialprocesses (e.g., main idea, central conflict, conclusions,generalizations, themes, metaphors) may be increasingly emphasized.Moreover, the student may be given opportunities to analyze thestructural features of such strategy constructs or devices as logicdiagrams, tables, concept webs, flowcharts, timelines, and summaries,and how these devices can organize information from a text. In someembodiments, passages may be evenly divided between fiction andnon-fiction, with some of the fiction extracted from public domainliterature. The exercise may progress from shorter texts (75-200 words)to longer texts (240-480 words), and the difficulty level of thepassages may increase from 3rd-5th grade level to 6th-7th grade level.

The exercise may develop various cognitive skills in the student, suchas memory, e.g., by using working memory for sentence comprehension andbuilding text-level representations in long-term memory; attention, byselectively attending to critical information and sustaining attentionacross longer passages and question sets; processing, by developingfluency in extracting and integrating meaning from longer text passages;and sequencing by recognizing causal and temporal event sequences intexts, among others.

More specifically, the exercise may require the student to read a shortfiction or non-fiction passage, answer questions regarding the passage,complete a graphic organizer or summary of the passage, and answercomprehension questions. This process may then be repeated for each of aplurality of passages. For example, in one embodiment, for each passage,the student may be required to complete 3 stages: 1) passage read withcomprehension-check questions, where the student may independently readfiction and non-fiction passages and answer comprehension-checkquestions by clicking on the correct answer; 2) strategy, where thestudent may be required to complete a strategy task, such as choosing orcompleting graphic organizers and summaries; and 3) post-strategycomprehension questions, where, once the strategy task is correctlycompleted, the student may be required to answer additionalcomprehension questions about the passage.

The student may develop skills regarding gaining information from text,such as discerning main ideas and evidence that supports those ideas,and drawing inferences, conclusions, or generalizations. The student maydevelop skills in structural analysis of text, such as understandingtext features (e.g., format, graphics, diagrams, illustrations, charts,maps), and analyzing text that is organized in sequential orchronological order. Moreover, in a more indirect manner, the studentmay develop skills in literary analysis of fiction, such as identifyingthe main problem and how it is resolved, contrasting characters in awork of fiction in relation to the plot or theme, recognizing themes,and describing the function and effect of common literary devices (e.g.,imagery, metaphor, symbolism).

FIG. 31—Method for Building Skills in Accurate Text Comprehension andUse of Comprehension Strategies

FIG. 31 is a flowchart diagram of a method for building skills inaccurate text comprehension and the use of comprehension strategies viaa computing device, according to one embodiment. As noted above, invarious embodiments, some of the method elements described may beperformed concurrently, in a different order than described, or may beomitted. Additional method elements may be performed as desired. As FIG.31 shows, the method may be performed as follows:

In 3102, a set of stimulus passages, i.e., textual passages, may beprovided. As with the above-described exercises, in preferredembodiments, a graphical user interface (GUI) may be provided wherebythe exercise may be performed.

FIG. 32 illustrates an exemplary screenshot 3200 of an introductoryscreen for the Lana's Lanes exercise. As FIG. 32 shows, (and as withFIGS. 7, 16, and 24, described above) the screen includes the name ofthe student 3202, an initiation button, in this case, a selection paw3204, also referred to as an OR button, and a cursor 3206. To begin atrial, the student may move the cursor 3206 over the selection paw 3204and indicate the selection, e.g., by clicking the mouse. The screenfurther includes a main character, in this case, a cow 3212, a scoreindicator 3214, progress markers 3215 indicating progress through theexercise, and a time indicator 3216. The score indicator 3214 may addpoints to the students score as the student correctly responds totrials. The time indicator 3216 may provide a graphical illustration ofthe relative time left for the exercise. Exercise play may begin whenthe student selects the selection paw 3204.

In 3104, a next page of a stimulus passage from the set of stimuluspassages may be displayed, e.g., on a display of a computing device. Forexample, the page of the stimulus passage may be presented in theabove-described GUI. FIG. 33 is an exemplary screenshot from theexercise, where, as may be seen, a first page of a stimulus passage 3308is displayed. In this example, the page discusses pets in general, anddogs in particular, especially poodles. As also shown, a “done reading”button 3310 may be provided for dismissing the screen once the studenthas read the presented page.

In 3106, a question (or other request or prompt for response) regardingthe presented page of the stimulus passage may be presented to thestudent, i.e., may be asked of the student. For example, the questionmay relate to a plot, character, knowledge, conclusions, and/or logicalrelationships indicated in the page, among others. In one embodiment,such questions may be presented in a first stage, i.e., stage 1, of theexercise. In some embodiments, e.g., in successive stages, e.g., stage 2and/or stage 3, of the exercise, one or more logic diagrams (e.g.,circle or Euler diagrams) or tables may be displayed, where the questionmay relate to the diagram(s) or table(s), as will be described in detailbelow. FIG. 34 is an exemplary screenshot from stage 1 of the exercise,where question 3414 is presented, specifically, “According to the authorof this passage, what kind of animal makes the best pet?”

In 3108, a plurality of possible answers to the question (or request orprompt for response) of 3106 may be textually presented to the student,one of which is the correct or most appropriate response. Turning againto FIG. 34, in this example, four possible answers are shown: “fish”,“dogs”, “cats”, and “birds”.

In 3110, the student may be required to select an answer from theplurality of possible answers, e.g., via a mouse or other pointingdevice. FIG. 35 is an exemplary screenshot of the exercise illustratinguser selection of the (correct) answer “dogs”, which is shownhighlighted. Note that this question/response may be considered to be astage 1 trial.

In 3112, a determination may be made as to the correctness of thestudent's selection, i.e., whether the selected answer is correct ornot. As with the above exercises, in preferred embodiments, anindication, i.e., graphical and/or audial, may be provided as to thestudent's correctness (or incorrectness), e.g., via speakers orheadphones. For example, a “thunk” sound may be played indicatingincorrectness, or a “ding” may be played indicating correctness andpoints awarded (or, as above, in the case of bonus points, 3 “dings” maybe played). In some embodiments, an animation of the main characterand/or secondary characters may also provide such an indication when theselection is correct, e.g., a “correct” animation may be presented. Ofcourse, any other types of indication may be used as desired.

Note that in some embodiments, an incorrect selection may result infailure of the current trial, unit, and/or level, where failed units maybe repeated (possibly a number of times) later, e.g., at the end of thecurrent level, and/or at the end of the exercise, as will be describedin detail below. Thus, in some embodiments, each unit may be performeduntil either the unit is passed, or the unit has been failed a specifiednumber of times (e.g., 3 times), where the additional performances(beyond the first failure) may be performed just after the firstfailure, and/or at the end of the level. Moreover, the units that havebeen failed the specified number of times may be repeated at the end ofthe exercise until all units have been passed.

In 3113, a determination may be made as to whether there are furtherquestions (or requests for response) to be answered regarding the pageof the stimulus passage. If there are further questions, then the methodmay proceed to 3106, where a next question may be displayed, e.g., instage 2, and the method may continue as described above. For example,FIG. 36 illustrates presentation of another question 3614, e.g., a logicquestion, regarding the passage, specifically, “According to the story,which of these statements is true?”, as well as additional possibleanswers 3604 to the question, and FIG. 37 illustrates user selection ofthe answer “All poodles are dogs.” 3606. Note that in some embodiments,the logic question/response may be considered to be a first trial instage 2 of the exercise, e.g., to be followed by a second trial in stage2, such as, for example, a trial in a “choose the diagram” strategytask, described below in detail.

If there are no further questions regarding the current page of thepassage, the method may proceed to 3104, where a next page of thepassage may be presented, and the method may continue as describedabove.

In preferred embodiments, once all the pages of the current stimuluspassage have been presented and responded to, pages of a next passagemay be presented, and the method may continue as described above in aniterative manner, thereby building skills in accurate text comprehensionand the use of comprehension strategies in the student.

Thus, as FIG. 31 indicates, additional stimulus passages from the set ofstimulus passages may be presented, where, as described above, thestudent is required to select appropriate answers to presentedquestions, and the correctness or incorrectness of each selectiondetermined (and recorded or stored), as described above. Note that insome embodiments, the passages may be presented in a specified order (asopposed to randomly), such that the passages may form an extended storyor article. Thus, the displaying, the presenting the question, thepresenting the possible answers, the requiring, and the determining maybe performed for each page in each passage in the set of passages tobuild skills in accurate text comprehension and the use of comprehensionstrategies.

Moreover, in preferred embodiments, the displaying the page of thepassage, the presenting the question, the presenting the possibleanswers, the requiring, and the determining may be repeated for eachstimulus passage, where the repeating builds skills in accurate textcomprehension and the use of comprehension strategies in the student. Inother words, the student may be exposed to the passages multiple timesto facilitate development of the student's passage comprehension andreasoning skills. Such repetition may occur in a plurality of sessionsover days, weeks, or even months. Additionally, in some embodiments, theset of stimulus passages may be included in a plurality of stimuluspassage sets, and the method may include performing the repeating foreach stimulus passage set in the plurality of stimulus passage sets.

In one embodiment, as the student completes trials for each passage, thestudent may progress through a plurality of levels, where, for example,the passages and questions may be increasingly difficult or subtle,and/or may be focused on various different relationships of elements inthe passages. In one embodiment, a unit may refer to trials directed tostage 3 of a respective passage. Detailed information regarding units,levels, and progression through them, is provided below.

Thus, performing the repeating for each stimulus passage set in theplurality of stimulus passage sets may include performing trials in eachunit of a plurality of units for each level of a plurality of levels, aswill be described in more detail below. As also indicated above, suchperforming with respect to the multiple stimulus passage sets may itselfbe repeated in an iterative manner, e.g., over a plurality of sessions,as described above, to facilitate development of the student's skills inaccurate text comprehension and the use of comprehension strategies.

In one embodiment, the method may also include performing introductoryor training trials, where, for example, initially instructions may beprovided explaining what is expected of the student in the exercise, andthen example trials performed where the correct responses are indicatedto the student. After the introductory or training trials are completed,the student may begin the actual trials of the exercise, as describedabove.

As noted above, in some embodiments, the above method may be performedin each of a plurality of successive stages, where, for example, instage 1, textual questions/answers may be presented as described aboveuntil all the pages of the passage have been presented (and respondedto), and where, for example, in stage 2, one or more questions may bepresented with respect to auxiliary information regarding aspects of thepassage, e.g., with respect to set relationship or logic diagrams, alsoreferred to as Euler or circle diagrams; or graphic organizers, such astables, concept webs, and timelines/flowcharts; regarding the passage.After stage 2, a third stage, i.e., stage 3, may be performed, in whichsummary information may be presented and/or queried for. Moreover, eachstage may include a plurality of tasks, each directed to a particularskill or learning approach, as described in more detail below.

Overview of Exercise Stages

The following are high-level descriptions of exemplary stages of theexercise (Lana's Lanes), although it should be noted that variations ofthe described stages are also contemplated. More detailed descriptionsfollow.

Stage 1: Passage Read/Check Questions

In one exemplary embodiment of stage 1 of the exercise, each presentedpassage may be 1 to 4 “pages” in length and may be presented on screenas text only. The passages may increase in difficulty (e.g., lexiled forgrade levels 4-7) as the student progresses through the exercise. Asnoted above, once the page has been presented, the student may click a“Done Reading” button (or equivalent) to indicate they are finishedreading the page. After each page, one (or more) multiple choicecomprehension question(s) may be presented, where the question isdesigned to help students think about what they are reading byhighlighting important information and promoting inference. FIGS. 33-35illustrate exemplary embodiments of the questions/responses in stage 1.After the textual questions regarding the passage have been responded toin stage 1, such as those of FIGS. 34-35, the method may proceed tostage 2, described below.

Stage 2: Strategy:

In one exemplary embodiment of stage 2 of the exercise, the student maybe required to perform one or more of the following strategy tasks foreach passage.

Circle Diagrams

In a first task of this task group, specifically, a “choose the correctdiagram” task, the student may be required to select a statement that istrue about the passage from a plurality of statements. Then, the studentmay be presented with multiple circle diagrams and may be required toclick the diagram that correctly represents the statement (i.e., thestatement just selected).

In a second task of this task group, specifically, a “complete adiagram” task, the student may be presented with a circle diagram thathas been partially completed, and may be required to select missingelements by clicking on the item that belongs in the specified location.

Graphic Organizers:

In this strategy task, specifically, a “complete the organizer” task,the student may be presented with a partially completed or emptyorganizer, and may be required to select missing elements by clicking onthe item that belongs in the specified location. In one embodiment,graphic organizers may be grouped into 3 basic types: 1) Tables, 2)Concept Webs, and 3) Timelines/Flowcharts.

Summarization

In these strategy tasks, i.e., summarization tasks, the student may,using a cloze-task interface, demonstrate understanding of summarizationskills by completing one of the following tasks:

In a first task of this task group, specifically, a “choose the bestsummary” task, the student may be presented with a number of completedsummaries (e.g., 4 summaries), and may be required to choose the bestone.

In a second task of this task group, specifically, a “build a summary”task, the student may be presented with the beginning of a summary, andmay be required to complete it by selecting the remaining sentences. Thestudent may be presented with a number (e.g., 4) of sentences and askedto click the one that comes next in the summary. The correct responsemay then be added to the summary. This sequence may be repeated untilthe summary is completed.

In some embodiments, if a trial is answered incorrectly, the passage maybe presented again, beginning with the first page of the passage. Thenthe incorrect trial may be presented again with previously selectedresponses grayed out. The student may have up to a specified number(e.g., 3) attempts to answer correctly, at which point the correctanswer may be selected for the student. Note that in some embodiments,upon completion of stage 2 for a passage, the student will preferablyalways have a completed correct diagram, graphic organizer, or summaryof the passage, depending on the task performed, where the completeddiagram, graphic organizer, or summary may then be used in one or morestage 3 trials. Note further that in some embodiments, the “choose adiagram” task may work slightly differently from other tasks, as will beexplained below.

Stage 3: Post-Strategy Comprehension Questions

In some embodiments, stage 3 may be directed to post-strategy (poststage 2) questions that may target information that is better understoodthrough the use of the (stage 2) strategy presented for the passage. Forexample, in one embodiment, with the correct diagram, organizer, orsummary displayed (from the just-completed stage 2 task), the studentmay be presented with a number (e.g., 5) of multiple-choice questionsabout the passage. As before, the student may be required to click onthe correct answer to the question, in light of the correct diagram,organizer, or summary displayed.

A more detailed description of the stages of the exercise (Lana's Lanes)is presented below:

Detailed Description of Stages Stage 1: Passage Read/Comprehension Check

As mentioned above, the student may click the initiation (paw) or ORbutton to begin the stage. In some embodiments, the initiation buttonmay be clicked to invoke display of the first page of each passage.

Trial Interaction:

The text of a page of the passage may be displayed. In some embodiments,to help the student know where he/she is in a passage (and when apassage begins and ends), a passage length indicator may be displayed atthe bottom of the passage text display. For example, the passage lengthindicator may show a row of “page” icons mirroring the number of pagesof text and highlighting the position of the current page within thepassage. If there is only one page in the passage, the indicator may notbe displayed.

As noted above, a “done reading” button or equivalent may be displayed,and may become active after a time period, e.g., equal to 1 second perline of text (up to a maximum of 8 seconds). The student may click the“done reading” button when he/she has finished reading the page, uponwhich the passage text may disappear and a question may be displayedalong with a number of responses (e.g., 4 responses). In one embodiment,if the student has attempted the question before in the current passageevaluation, all previously selected incorrect answers may be grayed out.

If the student's response is correct, e.g., if the student clicks on thecorrect response, an indication of the correctness of the selection maybe provided. For example, the box with the correct response may behighlighted, e.g., in yellow. Additionally, as with the previousexercises, a “ding” may be played and points awarded. As before, ifbonus points are awarded, 3 “dings” may be played. In some embodiments,a “correct” animation (e.g., a facial expression change) may play.

If the student selects an incorrect response, e.g., if the studentclicks on the incorrect response, an indication of the incorrectness ofthe response may be provided. For example, a “thunk” may be played, andthe selected (incorrect) response may be grayed out. Additionally, ifthis is the third attempt at answering this question, the box with thecorrect response may be highlighted, e.g., in white. There may be abrief (e.g., 2 seconds) pause, to allow the student to read the correctresponse. Exemplary examples of this stage 1 interaction are illustratedin FIGS. 33-35, described above.

The above interaction may be repeated for each page in the passage. Atthe end of the passage, if all questions were answered correctly, thestudent may advance to stage 2. If any questions were answeredincorrectly, the student may repeat the above interaction for eachincorrect question (including the page read). This process may continueuntil the student has passed each question, or attempted each question aspecified number of times, e.g., 3 times, at which point, the studentmay transition to stage 2, described in detail below.

Stage 2: Strategy Task

As noted above, in Stage 2, the student may be presented with one (ormore) of the following task types:

Strategy Task Type 1: Choose a Diagram:

In this task the student first selects the statement that is true aboutthe passage, and then selects the circle (i.e., Euler) diagram thatrepresents that statement.

Trial Interaction:

In trials of this task, a logic question regarding the passage may bepresented, and the student may be required to select from a plurality oflogic answers to answer the question. For example, in one embodiment,the student may be requested to select a statement (from a plurality ofstatements, e.g., from 4 displayed statements) about the passage that istrue. In one embodiment, if the student has attempted the questionbefore in the current passage evaluation, all previously selectedincorrect answers may be grayed out.

FIGS. 36 and 37, described above, are exemplary screenshots illustratingthe type of question/response of this type of strategy task (stage 2),where the question and response are directed to the passage of FIG. 33,also described above.

If the student selects the correct response, e.g., clicks on the correctresponse, then, as above, an appropriate indication may be provided,e.g., the box with the correct response may be highlighted in yellow, a“ding” may play, and points may be awarded. In some embodiments, ifbonus points are awarded, 3 “dings” may be played. Additionally, a“correct” animation (e.g., a facial expression change) may be played.

If the student selects an incorrect response, e.g., if the studentclicks on the incorrect response, then a corresponding indication may beprovided, e.g., a “thunk” may be played. If this is the third attempt atanswering this question, then in one embodiment, the box with thecorrect response may be highlighted in white, and there may be a brief(e.g., 2 seconds) pause, to allow the student to read the correctresponse.

If this is not the third attempt at answering this question, then thepassage may be displayed along with a “done reading” button, which maybecome active after a time period, e.g., equal to 0.5 second per line oftext (up to a maximum of 4 seconds). As before, the student may clickthe “done reading” button when he/she has finished reading. The logicquestion screen may reappear with the previously selected response(s) ina grayed out state and the student may be given the opportunity toanswer the question again.

Once the student has correctly selected the true statement regarding thepassage, the student may be presented with a plurality of circle (i.e.,Euler) diagrams, one of which corresponds to the (correct) selectedstatement described above. An exemplary trial interaction for thisportion of the first strategy task is described below.

Trial Interaction:

In trials for this portion of the strategy task, in one embodiment, anumber (e.g., 4) of numbered circle diagrams may be displayed. Acorresponding number (e.g., 4) of selection or choice boxes may also bedisplayed, e.g., below the diagrams, each representing a respectivedisplayed diagram. It should be noted, however, that in someembodiments, the respective diagrams may themselves be selectable by thestudent, thus obviating the separate selection boxes. The student maythen be directed to select the diagram that illustrates a presentedstatement.

FIGS. 38 and 39 are exemplary screenshots illustrating this portion ofthe strategy task. In FIG. 38, various circle diagrams are presentedrepresenting various logical statements (both correct and incorrect)regarding pets, cats, dogs and poodles, e.g., graphically representingthe ideas “no cats are dogs”, “all poodles are dogs”, “some cats arepoodles/some poodles are cats”, and some pets are dogs/some dogs arepets”. As may be seen, the selection or choice boxes are labeled“Diagram 1”, “Diagram 2”, and so forth. The student is directed toselect one of the diagrams representing a presented logical statementregarding the passage, in this particular example, the textual statement“all poodles are dogs”. As shown, the student has (correctly) selectedDiagram 2.

In an exemplary follow-on trial, illustrated in FIG. 39, a circlediagram is presented illustrating an idea or logical statement about thestory, in this particular example, a circle diagram graphicallyillustrating the idea “all poodles are dogs”. A number (e.g., 4) oftextual responses are also displayed, from which the student is requiredto select one textually stating the idea graphically represented by thedisplayed circle diagram. As FIG. 39 shows, the student has selected thetext response “All poodles are dogs”, which is the correct selection.

In trials for this task, if the student selects the correct response,e.g., clicks on the correct response, then, as above, an appropriateindication may be provided, e.g., the box with the correct response maybe highlighted in yellow, a “ding” may play, and points may be awarded.In some embodiments, if bonus points are awarded, 3 “dings” may beplayed.

If the student selects an incorrect response, e.g., if the studentclicks on the incorrect response, then a corresponding indication may beprovided, e.g., a “thunk” may be played. In one embodiment, if this isthe third attempt at answering this question, The correct diagram may behighlighted, with blue text, and the presented statement may be changedto blue text, although it should be noted that other indications may beused as desired.

Strategy Task Type 2: Complete a Diagram

As noted above, in this task the student may be presented with a circlediagram that has been partially completed, and may be required to selectmissing elements by clicking on the item that belongs in the specifiedlocation.

Trial Interaction:

A partially completed or empty circle diagram may be displayed, alongwith a set of textual responses, each represented a logical statementregarding information from the passage. For example, in one embodiment,one of the empty locations in the diagram may include an icon with anumber in it. The student may then be instructed to select one of theresponses that includes the missing text illustrating a presentedstatement or an idea from the passage. If the student has attempted thistrial before, in the current passage evaluation, all previously selectedincorrect answers are grayed out and inactive.

FIGS. 40-43 are exemplary screenshots illustrating progression throughtrials directed to this strategy task. Note that FIGS. 40 and 41 presentthe passage and a question/response regarding the passage, respectively,and that FIGS. 42 and 43 particularly illustrate the “complete thediagram” task. As FIG. 40 shows, a stimulus passage is providedregarding fictitious green skinned beings (called “Ziplings”) whosereliance on and desire for sunlight impacts their architecture. FIG. 41presents a question and possible responses regarding the passage of FIG.40, where, as shown, in response to the question “What does having ahigh ‘quality of light’ mean to Zipling architects?”, the student has(correctly) selected the response “plenty of direct sunlight indoors”.Note that this trial is a stage 1 trial, and is described for contextfor the below-described stage 2 trials.

Turning now to FIG. 42, a partial circle diagram is displayed, where, inthis particular example, a first circle, labeled “1”, completelyencloses a second circle, labeled “2”, where the label “1” is emphasizedcompared to the label “2”, e.g., the label “2” is shown grayed out. Asmay be seen, a plurality of text responses are also displayed, as is aninstruction for the student to select a response with the missing textfor the first circle (“1”) illustrating a statement about the passage,specifically, “All prize-winning buildings are sunny.” As shown, thestudent has selected the bottom left response “Sunny buildings”, whichcorrectly describes the overarching concept or portion of the statedrelationship.

FIG. 43 presents another partial diagram, where the enclosing circle islabeled “sunny buildings”, per the previous (correct) answer, and thesecond circle's label “2” is emphasized, e.g., not grayed out. As may beseen, the student is instructed to select (from a displayed plurality oftext responses) the missing text for “2” (the second circle)illustrating a statement about the passage, specifically, “Allprize-winning buildings are sunny.” As shown, the student has(correctly) selected “prize-winners”, the subclass of “sunny”, in thecontext of the presented passage.

If the student selects the correct response, e.g., clicks on the correctresponse, e.g., clicks the correct item for the designated location inthe diagram, then, as above, an appropriate indication may be provided,e.g., the box with the correct response may be highlighted in yellow, a“ding” may play, and points may be awarded. In some embodiments, ifbonus points are awarded, 3 “dings” may be played. Moreover, in oneembodiment, the correct answer may appear in the correct position in thediagram.

If the student selects an incorrect response, an appropriate indicationmay be provided. For example, a “thunk” sound may be played, and theselected response may change to a grayed out state. In some embodiments,if this is the third attempt for this trial, the box with the correctresponse may be highlighted, e.g., in white, and the correct responsemay appear in the correct position in the diagram, e.g., in blue text.If this is not the third attempt at answering this question, then thefirst page of the passage may be displayed along with a “done reading”button, where the button may become active after a specified timeinterval, e.g., 0.5 seconds per line of text (up to a maximum of 4seconds). As described earlier, the student may click the “done reading”button when finished reading each page.

Note that if the student did not answer the trial correctly on the firstattempt, the trial may reappear with previously selected responsesgrayed out. The student may select another answer from the remainingresponses. After each incorrect response the student may be presentedwith the passage and given another opportunity to answer the trial. Thismay continue until the student responds correctly or the student hasattempted unsuccessfully three times. At that point, the student moveson to the next trial in the Stage, repeating the interaction asdescribed above. If this is the last trial in the stage (2) stage, thestudent may advance to stage 3, examples of which are provided below.

Strategy Task Type 3: Complete a Graphic Organizer

As noted above, in this task the student may be presented with apartially completed or empty graphic organizer, and may be required toselect from a plurality of textual responses to complete or furthercompletion of the organizer.

Trial Interaction:

In one embodiment, the graphic organizer may have one or more emptylocations, i.e., may be missing one or more portions. One of the emptylocations may be marked, e.g., may include an icon with a number. Thestudent may be instructed to select the missing text for the numberedlocation. If the student has attempted this trial before(unsuccessfully), all previously selected incorrect answers may begrayed out.

FIGS. 44-49 are exemplary screenshots from one embodiment of theexercise (Lana's Lanes) illustrating this strategy task (complete agraphic organizer). FIG. 44 presents a first page of an exemplarypassage to be read by the student. Note that a passage length indicator4402 is displayed in the bottom portion of the screen, where the passagelength indicator 4402 includes a row of “page” icons mirroring thenumber of pages of text and highlighting the position of the currentpage within the passage. As with the previous passages, a “done reading”button 4404 may be provided to proceed when the student has finishedreading the page. FIG. 45 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating a(stage 1) question/response directed to the just-read passage, where aquestion 4502 is presented to the student, and the student selects ananswer, e.g., selection 4506, from a plurality of possible responses4504, as described above at length. Thus, FIG. 45 may be considered toillustrate a stage 1 portion of the exercise.

FIG. 46 is an exemplary screenshot presenting a second, final, portionof the passage, i.e., the last page of the passage begun in FIG. 44, asshown by the passage length indicator, and FIG. 47 is an exemplaryscreenshot illustrating a question/response directed to the just-readpassage of FIG. 46, where, as before, a question 4702 is presented tothe student, and the student selects an answer, e.g., selection 4706,from a plurality of possible responses 4704, as described above atlength. Thus, as with FIG. 45, in one embodiment, FIG. 47 may beconsidered to illustrate a stage 1 portion of the exercise.

FIGS. 48 and 49 are exemplary screenshots illustrating embodiments oftrial interactions in stage 2 directed to the third strategy taskdescribed above, i.e., the “complete a graphic organizer” task. As FIG.48 shows, an incomplete graphic organizer 4802, in this case, anincomplete table, is presented to the student, where the graphicorganizer (partially) summarizes information presented in the passage ofFIGS. 44 and 46. As may be seen, missing portions of the graphicorganizer, in this case, missing entries in the table, are numbered vianumeric icons, where a first missing entry 4804 is labeled with a “1”.Via instruction 4806, the student is directed to select from a pluralityof textual responses 4808, to correctly fill in the missing portion ofthe graphic organizer.

FIG. 49 illustrates a second trial interaction, where the student isdirected by instruction 4906 to fill in a second missing portion orentry 4904, labeled with a “2”, with one of a plurality of presentedresponses 4908. This process may continue until the graphic organizerhas been completed. In some embodiments, one or more trials, e.g.,questions/responses, may be performed regarding the completed graphicorganizer, e.g., in stage 3, where, following the above example, thecompleted table is shown, and one or more question/response trialsperformed. Examples of such stage 3 trials are described below withreference to FIGS. 54, 60, 61, and 69.

FIGS. 50-53 illustrate an exemplary “complete a graphic organizer” taskwhere the graphic organizer is a concept web. FIGS. 50, 51, and 52present successive pages 5002, 5102, and 5202, of a passage. Note thatin some embodiments, after each page is presented, one or more stage 1comprehension question/response trials may be performed. FIG. 53illustrates an incomplete concept web based on facts and relationshipsdisclosed in the passage, where, as with the table example describedabove, various missing elements are labeled numerically. In the exampleof FIG. 53, a concept web 5302 corresponding to the passage of FIGS.50-52 is shown, where various elements are missing, labeled “1” through“5”. Via instruction 5306, the student is directed to select from aplurality of responses 5308 a response that fills in the missing textfor missing element “1” 5304 of the concept web. As shown, the studenthas (correctly) selected the bottom right response “prevents sulfur frommaking you cry”. Of course, additional trials directed to filling in theremainder of the missing elements of the concept web are preferably alsoperformed.

FIG. 54 illustrates an exemplary stage 3 follow-on screenshot (presentedafter all the missing elements have been selected and added to theconcept web) wherein the completed concept web 5402 is presented to thestudent, and a question 5404 regarding the passage is asked of thestudent. The student is then required to select from among a pluralityof responses 5406 to answer the question, e.g., using the completedconcept web as a cognitive tool. Of course, further stage 3 trials mayalso be performed as desired.

FIG. 55 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating a trial where theincomplete graphic organizer is a timeline/flowchart. For brevity, thecorresponding text passage is not shown, as the presentation of suchpassages is described repeatedly above, nor are the related stage 1 andstage 3 trials described. As FIG. 55 shows, a flowchart is shown, wherethe flowchart illustrates a stepwise process for making ice cream. Inthis “complete the graphic organizer” trial (stage 2), an incompleteflowchart 5502 is displayed, where various flowchart steps or elementsare missing, each provided with a numeric label, such as the missingelement labeled “3” 5504. An instruction 5506 is also displayeddirecting the student to select from a plurality of textual responses5508 to fill in the indicated missing element (element 3). As may beseen, the student has (correctly) selected the bottom right response.

Note that in performing the above-described stage 2 trials, if thestudent selects the correct response, e.g., clicks on the correctresponse, e.g., clicks the correct item for the designated location inthe graphic organizer, then, as above, an appropriate indication may beprovided, e.g., the box with the correct response may be highlighted inyellow, a “ding” may play, and points may be awarded. In someembodiments, if bonus points are awarded, 3 “dings” may be played.Moreover, in one embodiment, the correct answer may appear in thecorrect position in the graphic organizer.

If the student selects an incorrect response, an appropriate indicationmay be provided. For example, a “thunk” sound may be played, and theselected response may change to a grayed out state. In some embodiments,if this is the third attempt for this trial, the incorrect responses maybe grayed out, the box with the correct response may be highlighted,e.g., in white, and the correct response may appear in the correctposition in the organizer, e.g., in blue text. If this is not the thirdattempt at answering this question, then the passage may be displayedalong with a “done reading” button, where the button may become activeafter a specified time interval, e.g., 0.5 seconds per line of text (upto a maximum of 4 seconds). As described earlier, the student may clickthe “done reading” button when finished reading each page.

Similar to above, if the student did not answer the trial correctly onthe first attempt, the trial may reappear with previously selectedresponses grayed out. The student may select another answer from theremaining responses. After each incorrect response the student may bepresented with the passage and given another opportunity to answer thetrial. This may continue until the student responds correctly or thestudent has attempted unsuccessfully three times. At that point, thestudent moves on to the next trial in the stage, repeating theinteraction as described above. If this is the last trial in the stage(2) stage, the student may advance to stage 3.

Strategy Task Type 4: Choose a Summary

As noted above, in this task the student may be presented with aplurality of possible summaries of the passage, and may be required toselect the best summary for the passage.

Trial Interaction:

In one embodiment, a plurality (e.g., 4) of possible summaries for thepassage may be presented. The student may be instructed to select thebest summary for the passage from among the plurality of possiblesummaries. If the student has attempted this trial before(unsuccessfully), all previously selected incorrect answers may begrayed out (and inactive).

FIGS. 56-59 are exemplary screenshots illustrating trial interactions inthe “choose a summary” strategy (stage 2) task. As shown, FIG. 56presents a first page of a passage 5602 to the student. As noted above,in some embodiments, one or more stage 1 question/response cycles may beperformed with respect to this page of the passage (not shown, forbrevity), as described above, after which another page of the passage5702 may be presented, as shown in FIG. 57. Similarly, after one or morepossible (stage 1) question/response cycles are performed, a third,final, page of the passage 5802 is shown presented in FIG. 58. In oneembodiment, an additional one or more question/response cycles (e.g.,stage 1) may be performed regarding this last page of the passage (notshown for brevity). Finally, as shown in FIG. 59, per the “choose asummary” task of stage 2 of the exercise, a plurality of possiblesummaries 5904 for the passage of FIGS. 56, 57, and 58, are presented tothe student, and the student is directed via instruction 5902 to selecta best summary from the possible summaries 5904. As indicated by thecursor, the student has (correctly) selected the third summary from thepossible summaries.

In some embodiments, once the summary has been correctly selected, oneor more questions/responses may be performed regarding the summary instage 3, as shown in FIGS. 60 and 61, where, as may be seen, the summary6006 is presented, and in each case, a question (e.g., 6002 of FIG. 60,and 6102 of FIG. 61) is presented to the student, and, as above, thestudent is required to select from a plurality of possible answers(e.g., 6004 of FIG. 60, and 6104 of FIG. 61).

Similar to above, in these stage 2 trials, if the student selects thecorrect response, e.g., clicks on the correct summary item, then, asabove, an appropriate indication may be provided, e.g., the box with thecorrect response may be highlighted in yellow, a “ding” may play, andpoints may be awarded. In some embodiments, if bonus points are awarded,3 “dings” may be played.

If the student selects an incorrect response, an appropriate indicationmay be provided. For example, as above a “thunk” sound may be played,and the selected response may change to a grayed out state. In someembodiments, if this is the third attempt for this trial, the incorrectresponses may be grayed out, the box with the correct response may behighlighted, e.g., in white, and a pause (e.g., for 2 seconds) may beprovided to allow the student to read the correct summary. If this isnot the third attempt at answering this question, then the passage maybe displayed along with a “done reading” button, where the button maybecome active after a specified time interval, e.g., 0.5 seconds perline of text (up to a maximum of 4 seconds). As described earlier, thestudent may click the “done reading” button when finished reading eachpage.

As with the previous task, if the student did not answer the trialcorrectly on the first attempt, the trial may reappear with previouslyselected responses grayed out. The student may select another answerfrom the remaining responses. After each incorrect response the studentmay be presented with the passage and given another opportunity toanswer the trial. This may continue until the student responds correctlyor the student has attempted unsuccessfully three times, at which point,the student may move on to the next trial in the stage, repeating theinteraction as described above. If this is the last trial in the stage(2) stage, the student may advance to stage 3.

Strategy Task Type 5: Build a Summary

As noted above, in this task the student may be presented with partialsummary of the passage, and may be required to select from among aplurality of sentence to best start/continue/complete the summary forthe passage.

Trial Interaction:

In one embodiment, a partial summary may be presented, along with aplurality (e.g., 4) of sentences, one of which best starts, continues,or completes the summary. The student may be instructed to select thebest sentence to start, continue, or complete, the summary for thepassage. If the student has attempted this trial before(unsuccessfully), all previously selected incorrect answers may begrayed out (and inactive).

FIGS. 62-68 are exemplary screenshots illustrating trial interactions inthe “build a summary” strategy task of stage 2. As may be seen, FIGS.62-65 present successive pages (see elements 6202, 6302, 6402, and 6502,respectively) of a stimulus passage, as described above at length. Insome embodiments, after each page is presented, one or morequestion/response cycles may be performed in stage 1, as also describedabove. FIG. 66 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating an instruction6604 directing the student to select a best sentence from a plurality ofpresented sentences 6606 to begin a summary of the presented stimuluspassage, where, as may be seen, the student has (correctly) selected thelast of the sentences after making two incorrect selections (the firstand second selections, shown grayed out).

FIG. 67 is an exemplary screenshot wherein it may be seen that thecorrectly selected sentence from FIG. 66 is displayed in a summarydisplay portion 6702 of the screen. As also shown in FIG. 67, aninstruction 6704 is presented directing the student to select a nextsentence from another plurality of sentences 6706 for the summary,where, as may be seen, the student has (correctly) selected the firstsentence. FIG. 68 illustrates another screenshot where, as shown, thesecond sentence (from FIG. 67) has been added to the summary 6802. Thestudent is again directed by instruction 6804 to select another sentencefor the summary from yet another plurality of sentences 6806. Asindicated, the student has (correctly) selected the last sentence. Thisprocess may be repeated until the student has completed the summary,after which, as indicated above, the student may perform trials in stage3 directed to the completed summary.

FIG. 69 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating a stage 3 trialinteraction wherein the completed summary 6902 is displayed, and thestudent is asked a question 6904, in response to which the student isrequired to select an answer from a plurality of textual responses 6906.Of course, further stage 3 question/response trials may also beperformed regarding the completed summary.

Regarding trials in this task, similar to above, if the student selectsthe correct response, e.g., clicks on the correct summary item, then, asabove, an appropriate indication may be provided, e.g., the box with thecorrect response may be highlighted in yellow, a “ding” may play, andpoints may be awarded. In some embodiments, if bonus points are awarded,3 “dings” may be played. Additionally, the correct sentence may be addedto the displayed summary.

In the above stage 2 trials, if the student selects an incorrectresponse, an appropriate indication may be provided. For example, asabove a “thunk” sound may be played, and the selected response maychange to a grayed out state. In some embodiments, if this is the thirdattempt for this trial, the incorrect responses may be grayed out, andthe box with the correct response may be highlighted, e.g., in white. Ifthis is not the third attempt at answering this question, then thepassage may be displayed along with a “done reading” button, where thebutton may become active after a specified time interval, e.g., 0.5seconds per line of text (up to a maximum of 4 seconds). As describedearlier, the student may click the “done reading” button when finishedreading each page.

As with the previous tasks, if the student did not answer the trialcorrectly on the first attempt, the trial may reappear with previouslyselected responses grayed out. The student may select another answerfrom the remaining responses. After each incorrect response the studentmay be presented with the passage and given another opportunity toanswer the trial. This may continue until the student responds correctlyor the student has attempted unsuccessfully three times, at which point,the student may move on to the next trial in the stage, repeating theinteraction as described above. If this is the last trial in the stage(2) stage, the student may advance to stage 3.

Stage 3: Post-Strategy Comprehension Questions

In stage 3, the student may be presented with trials directed to one ormore of the tasks of stage 2, where the student is required to performthese trials with the goal of reviewing and showing proficiency in thetechniques presented in those tasks.

Trial Interaction:

In one embodiment, the correct diagram, organizer, or summary from stage2 (see above) may be displayed on the screen, as well as a question witha number (e.g., 4) of possible responses, one of which is the correct orbest answer to the question.

Examples of stage 3 trials are described above with reference to FIGS.54, 60, 61, and 69. Note that these descriptions are provided aboveafter respective stage 2 trial descriptions to provide a context for thestage 3 trial descriptions.

In stage 3 trials, if the student selects the correct response, e.g.,clicks on the correct answer to the question, then, as above, anappropriate indication may be provided, e.g., the box with the correctresponse may be highlighted in yellow, a “ding” may play, and points maybe awarded. If bonus points are awarded, 3 “dings” may be played.

If the student selects an incorrect response, an appropriate indicationmay be provided, e.g., as above, a “thunk” sound may be played, and theselected response may change to a grayed out state.

The student may repeat the above interaction for each of a plurality ofquestions in the stage. At the end of the stage, the student may advanceto the next passage in the current level. After all passages in thelevel have been attempted, the student may repeat those passages forwhich passing criteria were not met, e.g., following the advancement andprogression rules outlined below.

Exemplary Content and Progression

The following presents an exemplary embodiment of a content set for theabove-described exercise (Lana's Lanes), although it should be notedthat the information is exemplary only, and is not intended to limit theexercise to any particular set of pictures, sentences, sentencesegments, or progression sequence or criteria.

Task Type and Task Difficulty

Logic Diagrams: logic diagrams may be used in multiple tasks of varyingdifficulty. For example, in one embodiment, an “easy” or less difficulttask may be characterized by the student being required to choose thebest circle diagram representing a logical relationship from the passagefrom a plurality of circle diagrams, e.g., the “choose the best circlediagram” task described above. A “hard” or more difficult task may becharacterized by the student being required to fill-in or complete acircle diagram, e.g., the “complete the diagram” task described above.

Graphic Organizers: graphical organizers may also be used in multipletasks of varying difficulty, where, for example, the task may be “easy”or “hard”, depending on the portion of information the student isrequired to fill in. Examples of graphic organizers include, but are notlimited to: 1) Table; 2) Concept Web, and 3) Timeline/Flowchart; amongothers.

Summarization: finally, summaries may be used in multiple tasks ofvarying difficulty, where, for example, an “easy” task may becharacterized by the student being required to choose the best summaryfrom a plurality of possible summaries, as described above in the“choose the summary” task. A “hard” task may be characterized by thestudent being required to identify each of one or more sentences tobuild a summary, as also described above.

The various tasks may also have other dimensions of difficulty,including, for example, question difficulty (e.g., literal/look-up vs.inferential/integrative/met cognitive), text difficulty (e.g., gradelevels 3-5 vs. 6-8, e.g., as characterized by an online Lexile Analyzerto rate each passage), and text length (e.g., short=75-200 words,long=240-480 words).

Content Overview and Order of Progression

The following presents an exemplary characterization of content fortasks in the exercise (Lana's Lanes), as well as the organization andcontent of progression levels the student works through while performingthe exercise.

Level- Task Text Text Eval. id Task Type Difficulty Questions DifficultyLength Passages Quest. 1 Choose a Easy Easy Easy Short 4 12 diagram 2Fill in a Hard Both Easy Short 4 12 diagram 3 Graphic Easy Easy EasyShort 2 10 Organizer: Table 3 Table Hard Both Easy Long 2 10 3 TableHard Both Hard Long 2 10 4 Graphic Easy Easy Easy Short 2 10 Organizer:Concept Web 4 Concept Hard Both Easy Long 2 10 Web 4 Concept Hard BothHard Long 2 10 Web 5 Graphic Easy Easy Easy Short 2 10 Organizer:Timeline/ Flowchart 5 Timeline/ Hard Both Easy Long 2 10 Flowchart 5Timeline/ Hard Both Hard Long 2 10 Flowchart 6 Choose Easy Easy EasyShort 2 10 Summary 6 Choose Easy Both Easy Long 2 10 Summary 6 ChooseEasy Both Hard Long 2 10 Summary 7 Build Hard Easy Easy Short 2 10Summary 7 Build Hard Both Easy Long 2 10 Summary 7 Build Hard Both HardLong 2 10 Summary 38 174

Progression:

Terms: The following presents an exemplary set of terms used herein withrespect to the exercise (Lana's Lanes), as well as the organization andcontent of progression levels the student works through while performingthe exercise.

Term General definition Exercise-specific definition Trial Stimulus andresponse See above for descriptions of each type of trial. optionspresented to a student; response is evaluated Unit group of trials to beAll the trials in stage 3 of a Passage: evaluated for advancement Thereare 5 trials per unit in each passage. (Levels 1 and 2 have only 3trials . . . ) Stage One of multiple activities Each passage isprogressed through in 3 stages: performed by a student PassageRead/Comprehension Check, Strategy on the same or a related Task,Passage Comprehension content set Task Type of activity Stage 1: Studentreads passage and answers performed by student in a comprehension checkquestions; one per page trial; can be multiple of passage. tasks withina stage Stage 2: Student performs strategy task; one of five types(choose an Euler diagram, fill in an Euler diagram, fill in a graphicorganizer, choose a summary, build a summary) Stage 3: Student answerscomprehension questions based on graphic organizer. Passage A block ofrelated text. Level 1 and 2 have 4 passages; all other levels have 6passages varying in size and difficulty. Page The portion of the textPassages vary from 1–4 pages. block that fits on a single screen. LevelGrouping of sets Levels 1–6: grouped based on Strategy Task designatedas Type: hierarchically equivalent Euler Diagrams, Comparison Matrix,Semantic based on one or more Web/Relationship Tree, shared attributesTimeline/Outline/Flowchart, Choose a Summary, Build a Summary

Advancement: Evaluation of a Trial:

Stage 1, Passage Read/Check Questions, and Stage 2, Strategy Task: Atrial may be evaluated as correct if the student clicks on the correctresponse, and the student may be awarded points, as described above. Insome embodiments, stage 1 and 2 trials may not be evaluated foradvancement, but may be tracked so that the data may be used forreporting purposes. Trials answered incorrectly on the first attempt maybe repeated as “learning trials” up to 2 more times. Correct answers forthese “learning trials” may receive fewer points and may not count ascorrect for the purpose of reporting or determining rules for repeatingthe passage.

Stage 3, Comprehension: A trial may be evaluated as correct if thestudent clicks on the correct response, and the student may be awardedpoints as described above.

Evaluation of a Unit:

Stage 3, Comprehension: In one embodiment, only stage 3 trials may beevaluated for advancement, and so a unit may be considered to be onlythe stage 3 trials for a given passage. To successfully pass a unit, thestudent may be required to answer some specified portion, e.g., 4 out of5 questions, correctly in stage 3 (or, e.g., 3 of 3 if only 3 questionsare available). If the student meets the criteria for passing the unit,the passage may be closed. If the student does not meet the criteria,the student may transition to the next passage in the current level. Atthe end of the level, any passages for which the criteria were not metmay be repeated. In preferred embodiments, the student may repeat thefailed passage beginning at stage 1.

Plateau Based Transition:

If after 3 attempts, the student has not met the criteria for passingall passages in the level, the student may transition to the next level.After all passages in the exercise have been completed (passed or failed3 times), those passages that were not passed may be repeated, e.g.,using the same progression and rules of advancement as when they wereoriginally presented. The repetition of a passage at the end of theexercise preferably always begins with stage 1. The student may continueto work on these passages until mastery is achieved, e.g., until passingcriteria are met.

Exit and Re-Entry:

The student may exit or time-out at any point during the exercise. Ifexiting before the end of stage 1, the student may be returned to thebeginning of stage 1 upon re-entry. If exiting before the end of stage2, the student may be presented with the passage, and after clicking“done reading” through all pages of the current passage, may be returnedto the beginning of stage 2. If exiting after stage 2, upon re-entry tostage 3, the student may be presented with the initiation (e.g., OR)button. After clicking the initiation button the student may bepresented with the next unanswered trial in stage 3.

Progress Markers:

Progress through the exercise (comparable to percent-through) may bemarked by the addition of a total of 5 markers. In one embodiment, eachof the first 4 markers may be awarded after 8 passages are passed. Thefinal marker may be awarded after the final 6 passages are passed. Thetotal number of markers may be 5.

End of Exercise:

The exercise may end when the student has met passing criteria in allunits. It may then return to the wrapper, e.g., the startup screen, viaa “Good Job” screen.

FIGS. 70A and 70B—Method For Building Skills in Accurate TextComprehension and Use of Comprehension Strategies

FIGS. 70A and 70B flowchart a computer-implemented method for buildingskills in accurate text comprehension and the use of comprehensionstrategies via a computing device, according to one embodiment. Morespecifically, the method is directed to performance of units in theLana's Lanes exercise. Note that the method of FIGS. 70A and 70B isapplicable to, and may include, embodiments of the method of FIG. 31(and vice versa), and the description below may refer to various figuresand passages directed to that method for brevity. Moreover, any of theaspects described above with respect to the method of FIG. 31 may beconsidered applicable to the method of FIGS. 70A and 70B (and viceversa). As noted above, in various embodiments, some of the methodelements described may be performed concurrently, in a different orderthan described, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may beperformed as desired.

Turning now to FIG. 70A, as may be seen, in 7002, the current level maybe determined and set, e.g., to a next level in the exercise, or, at thestart of the exercise, a first level (see, e.g., the Order ofProgression chart above).

In 7004, the current passage may be determined and set, e.g., to a nextpassage in the exercise, or, initially, a first passage (again, see theabove Order of Progression chart).

In 7006, a next page of the current passage may be displayed, e.g., on adisplay of the computing device. Various examples of screenshotsdisplaying such pages are illustrated in FIGS. 33, 40, 44, 46, 50-52,56-58, and 62-65, and described above.

In 7008, a stage 1 trial, e.g., a question/response regarding thedisplayed page, may be performed. For example, as described above withreference to each of FIGS. 34-37, 41, 45, and 47, a question may bedisplayed, as well as a plurality of possible answers or responses, fromwhich the user may be required to select a best response to thequestion.

In 7009, a determination may be made as to whether the current page isthe last page of the passage. If not, then the method may return to7006, and continue as described above, i.e., displaying a next page inthe passage. If the current page is the last page of the currentpassage, the method may proceed to 7011, described below.

In 7011, a determination may be made as to whether all the questionsdirected to the current passage were passed or failed a specified numberof times, e.g., failed three times.

If all the questions directed to the current passage were not passed orfailed the specified number of times (e.g., three times), then in 7012,the pages of the passage may be re-presented to the student and thosequestions that were not answered correctly may be presented again, withtheir respective pluralities of possible responses, where each pluralityof possible responses is preferably displayed in a randomized order.This presentation of the passage and failed questions with responses maybe repeated until the student has correctly answered (i.e., passed) allthe questions for the passage.

Once all the questions for the current passage have been answeredcorrectly, then in 7014, stage 2 may be initiated.

Turning now to FIG. 70B, progression of trials in stage 2 is shown. Morespecifically, as FIG. 70B indicates, in 7016, stage 2 strategy trialsmay be initiated.

In 7017, a determination may be made as to whether the current level islevel 1 (where trials involve the student selecting an appropriate Eulerdiagram for a statement regarding the passage).

If in 7017 it is determined that the current level is level 1, then in7018, a logic question or directive regarding the passage may bepresented to the student, where, as described above, the student may berequired to select a true logic statement from a plurality of possiblelogic statements regarding the passage. FIGS. 36 and 37, describedabove, illustrate exemplary trial interactions of this nature, i.e., inlevel 1 of stage 2.

In 7019, a determination may be made as to whether the trial of 7017 wasperformed correctly, i.e., was passed. If the trial was passed, then themethod may proceed to 7028, described below, and if not, then in 7021, adetermination may be made as to whether the trial has been failed aspecified number of times, i.e., whether this was the third try atpassing the trial. If not, then in 7022, the passage may be displayedagain, and the trial repeated (e.g., as a “learning” trial), asindicated in 7024, and the method may proceed to 7019 and continue asdescribed above (and below).

If in 7021, it is determined that the trial was failed the specifiednumber of times, e.g., that this was the third (unsuccessful) try atpassing the trial, then in 7021, the correct answer may be provided ordisplayed, i.e., the correct answer may be filled in, and the method mayproceed to 7028, described below.

In 7028, a “choose the diagram” trial may be performed. An example ofsuch trial is described above with reference to FIG. 38, where, asdescribed, various circle diagrams are presented representing respectivelogical statements (both correct and incorrect) regarding pets, cats,dogs and poodles, e.g., graphically representing the ideas “no cats aredogs”, “all poodles are dogs”, “some cats are poodles/some poodles arecats”, and some pets are dogs/some dogs are pets”. As may be seen, theselection or choice boxes are labeled “Diagram 1”, “Diagram 2”, and soforth. The student is directed to select one of the diagramsrepresenting a presented logical statement regarding the passage, inthis particular example, the textual statement “all poodles are dogs”.

In 7030, a determination may be made as to whether this was the lasttrial of stage 2 (e.g., at this level and/or task), and if not, then themethod may proceed to 7018, where a next logic question may bepresented, and the method may continue as described above.

If in 7030 it is determined that the trial was the last trial of stage 2(e.g., at the current level and/or task) for the current passage, thenin 7032, the method may proceed to stage 3, as indicated (see D of FIG.70A).

If in 7017, it is determined that the current level is not level 1, thenin 7034, a strategy trial may be performed, i.e., a stage 2 strategytrial in a level greater than level 1. Examples of such strategy trialsfor tasks in stage 2 are described above with reference to FIGS. 42, 43,48, 49, 50-59, and 62-68.

In 7035, a determination may be made as to whether the trial of 7034 wasperformed correctly, i.e., was passed. If the trial was passed, then themethod may proceed to 7043, described below, and if not, then in 7037, adetermination may be made as to whether the trial has been failed aspecified number of times, i.e., whether this was the third try atpassing the trial. If not, then in 7038, the passage may be displayedagain, and the trial repeated (e.g., as a “learning” trial), asindicated in 7040, and the method may proceed to 7034 and continue asdescribed above (and below).

If in 7037, it is determined that the trial was failed the specifiednumber of times, e.g., that this was the third (unsuccessful) try atpassing the trial, then in 7042, the correct answer may be provided ordisplayed, i.e., the correct answer may be filled in, and the method mayproceed to 7043, described below.

In 7043, a determination may be made as to whether the just performedtrial is the last trial in stage 2, (e.g., at this level and/or task),and if not, then the method may proceed to 7034, where a next trial maybe performed, and the method may continue as described above.

If in 7043 it is determined that the trial was the last trial of stage 2(e.g., at the current level and/or task), then in 7044, the method mayproceed to stage 3, as indicated (see D of FIG. 70A).

Turning back to FIG. 70A, and resuming the method at point D in theflowchart, in 7046, trials in stage 3 may be performed, e.g., a trial ina stage 3 unit directed to comprehension questions regarding the subjectmatter and techniques of the just-performed trials in stage 2 may beperformed. In other words, the completed table, graphic organizer, orsummary, from previous trials in stage 2 may be presented, andcomprehension questions asked regarding the subject matter in thecompleted table, graphic organizer, or summary. Examples of such stage 3trial interactions directed to completed summaries are described abovewith reference to FIGS. 60, 61, and 69.

In 7047, a determination may be made as to whether the current trial orquestion/response was the last trial or question in the stage 3 unit forthe current passage, and if not, then the method may proceed to 7046,where the next trial or question/response in stage 3 for the currentpassage may be performed, and the method may continue as describedabove.

If in 7047, it is determined that the current trial or question/responsewas the last trial or question in the stage 3 unit for the currentpassage, then the unit may be evaluated to determine if the studentpassed or failed the stage 3 unit. For example, in one embodiment, inlevels less than level 3, i.e., in levels 1 and 2, the passing criteriafor the unit may be that the student pass all of the trials in the unit,e.g., the student must pass 3 of 3 trials in the unit. In someembodiments, in level 3 or higher, the passing criteria may be 80% ofthe trials, i.e., 4 out of 5 trials must be passed to pass the unit.Note, however, that in other embodiments, any other passing criteria maybe used as desired.

In 7049, a determination may be made as to whether the current passage(for trials just completed) is the last passage in the current level,and if not, then the method may proceed to 7004, where the next passagemay be selected, and the method may continue as described above.

If in 7049, it is determined that the current passage is the lastpassage in the current level, then in 7051, a determination may be madeas to whether there are any failed units in the current level, and ifnot, the method may proceed to 7002, where the next level may beinitiated, and the method may continue as described above.

If in 7051, it is determined that there are failed units in the currentlevel, then in 7053, a determination may be made as to whether any ofthe units were failed less than some specified number, e.g., three, andif so, then in 7054, trials may be repeated directed to passages in thefailed units, beginning with stage 1, i.e., the method may proceed to7004, and continue as described above, directed to passages of thefailed units.

If none of the failed units were failed less than the specified numberof times, e.g., three times, then in 7056, the failed units may bemarked or set aside to repeat after the final level of the exercise hasbeen completed. In other words, any units that have been failed threetimes or more may be retained for performance at the end of theexercise, where the units may be performed until the student passesthem.

Finally, as indicated in 7058, the method may proceed to the next level,continuing with 7002, as described above. As indicated above, once allthe levels have been completed, any units that have been failed thespecified number of times (e.g., three times) may be repeated until allunits have been passed, thereby building skills in accurate textcomprehension and the use of comprehension strategies.

Thus, various embodiments of the above methods may build skills inaccurate text comprehension and the use of comprehension strategies inthe student.

Exercise 5: Quack Splash

The goal of this exercise (i.e., Quack Splash) is to build skills inconstructing and organizing multiple-paragraph stories and expositorypassages, including skills in understanding and using figurativelanguage.

In this exercise, the student may build multiple-paragraph passages anddemonstrate comprehension of the passages, by correctly identifyingmissing words, phrases, or sentences, by correctly sequencing sentencesand paragraphs, and by answering comprehension questions about thecompleted passages.

The exercise may develop various cognitive skills in the student, suchas memory, e.g., using working memory to hold words and sentences inmemory while completing or reorganizing paragraphs; attention,sustaining attention across multiple steps to accurately complete alonger passage; processing, by using language skills to process grammarand meaning; and sequencing by recognizing and correcting the serialorder of scrambled sentences and paragraphs, among others.

The different tasks involved in building each passage may focus ondifferent aspects of constructing well-written text, including selectingrelevant and informative content, ordering sentences within a paragraphto maximize clarity, and organizing paragraphs to create a logical flowof ideas. The passages and the sequencing tasks may be designed to helpthe student build awareness and understanding of transitionalexpressions, including terms that introduce examples, mark sequences,add intensity, show comparison and contrast, or indicate cause andeffect.

In some embodiments, the student may be presented with long passages(653-3970 words) throughout the exercise, requiring the student tointegrate information across multiple sections while performing severaltasks on those sections. All passages may include figurative language(e.g., metaphor) in context, and questioning may guide students toreflect on the meanings of this language. In one embodiment, a finalpassage may provide a lesson on the historical processes of languagechange, guiding students to think meta-cognitively about the meanings ofwords and figures of speech.

In various embodiments, this exercise may address the following languagearts curriculum standards for fifth graders:

Writing Strategies Organization and Focus

The student may create multiple-paragraph expository compositions,including establishing a topic, important ideas, or events in sequenceor chronological order, and providing details and transitionalexpressions that link one paragraph to another in a clear line ofthought.

Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development Vocabularyand Concept Development

The student may be required to understand and explain the figurative andmetaphorical use of words in context.

Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials) Comprehensionand Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text

The student may be required to discern main ideas and concepts presentedin texts, identifying and assessing evidence that supports those ideas.

FIG. 71—Method for Building Skills in Constructing and OrganizingMultiple-Paragraph Stories and Expository Passages

FIG. 71 is a flowchart diagram of a method for building skills inconstructing and organizing multiple-paragraph stories and expositorypassages, including skills in understanding and using figurativelanguage via a computing device, according to one embodiment. As notedabove, in various embodiments, some of the method elements described maybe performed concurrently, in a different order than described, or maybe omitted. Additional method elements may be performed as desired. AsFIG. 71 shows, the method may be performed as follows:

In 7102, a set of stimulus passages, i.e., textual passages, may beprovided. As with the above-described exercises, in preferredembodiments, a graphical user interface (GUI) may be provided wherebythe exercise may be performed.

FIG. 72 illustrates an exemplary screenshot 7200 of an introductoryscreen for the Quack Splash exercise. As FIG. 72 shows, (and as withFIGS. 7, 16, 24, and 32, described above) the screen includes the nameof the student 7202, an initiation button, in this case, a selection paw7204, also referred to as an OR button, and a cursor 7206. To begin atrial, the student may move the cursor 7206 over the selection paw 7204and indicate the selection, e.g., by clicking the mouse. The screenfurther includes a main character, in this case, a duck 7212, a scoreindicator 7214, progress markers 7215 indicating progress through theexercise, and a time indicator 7216. The score indicator 7214 may addpoints to the students score as the student correctly responds totrials. The time indicator 7216 may provide a graphical illustration ofthe relative time left for the exercise. Exercise play may begin whenthe student selects the selection paw 7204.

In 7104, a plurality of sentences from a paragraph (e.g., a nextparagraph) of a stimulus passage from the set of stimulus passages maybe displayed, e.g., on a display of a computing device. For example, thesentences may be presented in the above-described GUI. FIG. 73 is anexemplary screenshot from the exercise, where, as may be seen, aplurality of sentences 7308 from a first paragraph of a stimulus passageis displayed. Note that the sentences are presented in a scrambledorder, i.e., out of order, although in preferred embodiments, this ordermay not be random.

In 7106, the student may be required (e.g., asked or directed) to selecta next sentence from the plurality of sentences to further constructionof the paragraph. As also shown in FIG. 73, in this example, the studentis asked or directed (by the main character 7212) to select the next (inthis case, the first) sentence in the paragraph, as indicated by 7310.The student preferably selects the sentence by clicking on the sentencewith a pointing device, e.g., a mouse, although any other means ofselecting the sentence may be used as desired. FIG. 74 illustrates userselection of the second sentence, which is correct.

In 7108, a determination may be made as to the correctness of thestudent's selection, i.e., whether the selected sentence is correct ornot. As with the above exercises, in preferred embodiments, anindication, i.e., graphical and/or audial, may be provided as to thestudent's correctness (or incorrectness), e.g., via speakers orheadphones. For example, a “thunk” sound may be played indicatingincorrectness, or a “ding” may be played indicating correctness andpoints awarded (or, as above, in the case of bonus points, 3 “dings” maybe played). In some embodiments, an animation of the main characterand/or secondary characters may also provide such an indication when theselection is correct, e.g., a “correct” animation may be presented. Ofcourse, any other types of indication may be used as desired.

Note that in some embodiments, an incorrect selection may result infailure of the current trial, unit, and/or level, where failed units maybe repeated (possibly a number of times) later, e.g., at the end of thecurrent level, and/or at the end of the exercise, as will be describedin detail below. Thus, in some embodiments, each unit may be performeduntil either the unit is passed, or the unit has been failed a specifiednumber of times (e.g., 3 times), where the additional performances(beyond the first failure) may be performed just after the firstfailure, and/or at the end of the level. Moreover, the units that havebeen failed the specified number of times may be repeated at the end ofthe exercise until all units have been passed.

In 7110, the correct sentence may be displayed, e.g., above thedisplayed sentences. FIG. 75 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating thedisplay of the selected sentence 7504. As may be seen the previouslyselected sentence (see FIG. 74) has been removed from the plurality ofsentences and displayed above them, beginning the first paragraph of thepassage.

In 7111, a determination may be made as to whether there are moresentences in the paragraph, i.e., if there are further sentences in thedisplayed plurality of sentences for this paragraph of the passage. Ifthere are no further sentences to be selected from, then the currentparagraph is complete, and, assuming that there are further paragraphsin the passage, the method may return to 7104, where another pluralityof sentences for the paragraph of the passage may be displayed, and maycontinue as described above. Of course, if there is only one paragraphin the passage, then once the paragraph is complete, the method maycontinue with a successive stage with regard to the one paragraphpassage, or may present sentences for a next passage, and so forth.

If there are further sentences in the current paragraph, then the methodmay proceed to 7106, where, as described above, the student may berequired to select a next sentence for addition to the paragraph of thepassage. For example, turning again to FIG. 75, as shown, the maincharacter (duck) provides instructions 7502 to the student to select thesentence that should come second in the paragraph. As also shown, thestudent has (correctly) selected the next to last sentence 7506 forinclusion in the paragraph.

This process may continue as described above until all sentences havebeen placed in the paragraph in correct order. FIG. 76 is an exemplaryscreenshot showing the completed paragraph 7602.

In preferred embodiments, once all the paragraphs of the currentstimulus passage have been presented and responded to (possibly in aplurality of stages, described below), paragraphs of a next passage maybe presented, and the method may continue as described above in aniterative manner, thereby building skills in constructing and organizingmultiple-paragraph stories and expository passages in the student. In

Thus, additional stimulus passages from the set of stimulus passages maybe presented, where, as described above, the student is required toselect appropriate sentences in order, and the correctness orincorrectness of each selection determined (and recorded or stored).Note that in some embodiments, the passages may be presented in aspecified order (as opposed to randomly), such that the passages mayform an extended story or article. Thus, the displaying, the requiring,and the determining may be performed for each paragraph in each passagein the set of passages to build skills in constructing and organizingmultiple-paragraph stories and expository passages.

Moreover, in preferred embodiments, the displaying the sentences of theparagraph of the passage, the requiring, the determining, and thedisplaying the selected sentence in the paragraph may be repeated foreach paragraph of each stimulus passage, where the repeating buildsskills in accurate text comprehension and the use of comprehensionstrategies in the student. In other words, the student may be exposed tothe passages multiple times to facilitate development of the student'sparagraph construction skills. Such repetition may occur in a pluralityof sessions over days, weeks, or even months. Additionally, in someembodiments, the set of stimulus passages may be included in a pluralityof stimulus passage sets, and the method may include performing therepeating for each stimulus passage set in the plurality of stimuluspassage sets.

In one embodiment, as the student completes trials for each passage, thestudent may progress through a plurality of levels, where, for example,the sentence ordering may be increasingly difficult or subtle.Additionally, in preferred embodiments, in progressing through thelevels, the student may perform various tasks in a plurality of stages,as will be described below. Detailed information regarding units (forevaluation), levels, and progression through them, is provided below.

Thus, performing the repeating for each stimulus passage set in theplurality of stimulus passage sets may include performing trials in eachunit of a plurality of units for each level of a plurality of levels, aswill be described in more detail below. As also indicated above, suchperforming with respect to the multiple stimulus passage sets may itselfbe repeated in an iterative manner, e.g., over a plurality of sessions,as described above, to facilitate development of the student's skills inconstructing and organizing multiple-paragraph stories and expositorypassages.

In one embodiment, the method may also include performing introductoryor training trials, where, for example, initially instructions may beprovided explaining what is expected of the student in the exercise, andthen example trials performed where the correct responses are indicatedto the student. After the introductory or training trials are completed,the student may begin the actual trials of the exercise, as describedabove (and below).

As noted above, in some embodiments, the above method may be performedin each of a plurality of successive stages, where, for example, instage 1, tasks directed to paragraph building may be performed, e.g.,via sentence ordering (as described above), and paragraph completion,and where, for example, in stage 2, paragraph sequencing may beperformed to create a coherent page of the passage. After stage 2, athird stage, i.e., stage 3, may be performed, in which questionsregarding the completed passage may be presented and responded to. Thus,each stage may include one or more tasks, each directed to a particularskill or learning approach, as described in more detail below.

Overview of Exercise Stages

The following are high-level descriptions of exemplary stages of theexercise (Quack Splash), although it should be noted that variations ofthe described stages are also contemplated. More detailed descriptionsfollow.

The student may build multiple-paragraph passages and demonstratecomprehension of the passages by completing the following stages:

Stage 1: Paragraph Building

The student may complete paragraphs by performing various tasks, such assentence sequencing, where the student may re-order sentences of aparagraph into the correct sequence; and a paragraph cloze task(completion), in which the student may select the best sentence to fillin a blank in the paragraphs, where the sentence may be one of a varietyof sentence types, such as, for example, a topic sentence, supportingargument, idiom, linking sentence, and so forth. The student may performone of these two tasks for each paragraph. In various embodiments, theparagraphs may be presented in a random order, or, alternatively, may bepresented in a scrambled order, but not randomized.

Thus, in stage one, one or more of the paragraph building tasks (e.g.,completion, and cloze) may be performed. Once stage 1 has been completedfor the passage (or passages), stage 2 may be performed, as describedbelow, where trials in this stage may be initiated via user activationof the initiation button of the GUI.

Stage 2: Page Building

In this stage, the student may perform paragraph sequencing, where thestudent orders the previously presented paragraphs (from stage 1), andpossibly additional paragraphs, into the correct sequence to create acoherent page of the passage.

Stage 3: Passage Comprehension

The student may be given the opportunity to re-read the completedpassage, and answer comprehension questions about the completed passage,e.g., by selecting an answer from a plurality of possible answers foreach question.

In some embodiments, a passage may include multiple pages. In caseswhere the passage is more than one page, the student may complete Stage1 for all pages (of the passage), then Stage 2 for all pages, beforebeing presented with Stage 3, which may include comprehension questionscovering all pages of the passage.

The content may be a balance of original fiction and nonfictionpassages; and may include usage of figurative language.

Detailed Description of Stages Stage 1: Paragraph Building TrialInteraction:

In one embodiment, the student may be presented with one of thefollowing tasks for each paragraph in the passage (e.g., for all pagesin the passage):

Task: Sentence Sequencing

As mentioned above, the student may click the initiation (paw) or ORbutton to begin the stage. An instruction may be provided directing thestudent to select the next sentence for the paragraph, e.g., to selectthe first, second, . . . last, sentence for the paragraph. In oneembodiment the instruction may also include a sequence number indicatingwhich sentence of the paragraph is being selected for, e.g., a “1” forthe first sentence, and so forth.

The sentences of a paragraph, e.g., the current paragraph, may bedisplayed in a scrambled order. Note that in preferred embodiments, thissequence may be fixed, i.e., not randomized, and so may be the sameevery time the trial is presented. In some embodiments, a small emptybox may be displayed next to each sentence, where the user may select asentence by clicking on the box, although other means of selection arealso contemplated, e.g., via number keys, etc. In one embodiment, theseboxes may be highlighted upon rollover, e.g., upon selection by thestudent. Note, however, that in other embodiments, rather than boxes,the entire response may be selectable, highlighted, and so forth.

FIGS. 73-76, described above, illustrate an example embodiment of thefirst paragraph building task, i.e., the sentence sequencing task. Asmay be seen, in response to each instruction, the student may click onthe box next to a sentence to select it. This process may continue untilthe paragraph is complete.

In one embodiment, if the student selects the correct sentence, the boxnext to the correct sentence may change color, e.g., to yellow, and thesequence number may appear in the box, although other indications may beused as desired. As with the previously described exercises, a “ding”may be played and points awarded. Moreover, in preferred embodiments,the selected sentence may be moved to the correct position within theparagraph. If this is the first sentence in the paragraph, the sentencewill be indented. The sentence may change color, e.g., to green, and thebox may no longer appear next to the sentence. The remaining sentences(i.e., those not selected) may be moved down on the screen, e.g., belowthe paragraph that is being constructed.

Moreover, if this is the final sentence in the paragraph and if allsentences were sequenced correctly, then if bonus points are not earned,1 ding may be played and additional points may be awarded. If this isthe final sentence in the paragraph and all sentences were sequencedcorrectly, then if bonus points are earned, 3 dings may be played andadditional points plus bonus points may be awarded.

Alternatively, if this is not the last sentence in the paragraph, thenthe instruction may change as appropriate, i.e., the student may beasked or directed to select the next sentence in sequence.

If the student selects an incorrect response, an appropriate indicationmay be provided, e.g., as above, a “thunk” sound may be played, and theselected response may change to a grayed out state. In some embodiments,all the incorrect sentences may be grayed out, including the boxes nextto the sentences. The text of the correct sentence may change color,e.g., may turn blue, and a pause, e.g., for 3.5 seconds, may be providedto allow the student to read the correct answer. The correct sentencemay be moved to the correct position within the paragraph. As above, ifthis is the first sentence in the paragraph, the sentence may beindented. The sentence may change color, e.g., to green, and the box mayno longer appear next to the sentence. The remaining sentences may bemoved down on the screen, e.g., below the paragraph that is beingconstructed.

If this is the final sentence in the paragraph, a pause may be provided,e.g., for 3 seconds, to allow the student to read the completedparagraph. If this is not the final sentence in the paragraph, theinstruction may be changed and the student may be asked or directed toselect the next sentence in sequence. Note that all remaining sentencesare available for selection.

The student may repeat the above interaction for each sentence in theparagraph, where the trial ends when the last sentence has beenselected. The student may be required to sequence the final sentence,even though there are no other possible correct responses.

Task: Paragraph Completion

As noted above, this task is a cloze task directed to completion of apartial paragraph, i.e., a paragraph missing a word, phrase, orsentence.

As above, the student may initiate trials in this task via theinitiation button, e.g., the paw or OR button. An incomplete paragraphmay be displayed, e.g., with a blank replacing a missing sentence. Anumber (e.g., four) of sentences or phrases may be displayed as responseoptions, e.g., at the bottom of the screen, and an instruction may bepresented to the student asking or directing the student to select theresponse that best completes the paragraph.

FIGS. 77-78 are exemplary screenshots illustrating the second paragraphbuilding task, i.e., the paragraph cloze task. As FIG. 77 shows, aparagraph 7704 may be displayed in which a portion of the paragraph ismissing, e.g., a word or phrase, where a blank may be displayed instead.In one embodiment, the blank may have a color, e.g., white, i.e., may bea color field, and/or may be underlined. Instructions 7702 may bepresented directing the student to select from among a plurality oftextual responses 7706 to complete the paragraph 7704. FIG. 78illustrates user selection of the first response 7802 to fill in themissing portion of the paragraph. As may be seen, the (correctly)selected response is added to the paragraph 7804 displayed above thepossible responses.

If the student answered correctly, e.g., clicked on the correctsentence, the correct answer may be highlighted, e.g., in yellow, a“ding” may be played, and points awarded. The sentence may be displayedin its correct position in the paragraph. In some embodiments, the whiteblank or color field may remain and may change size as necessary toaccommodate the added sentence (or phrase/word). The remainder of theparagraph text may adjust as required.

If the student selects incorrectly, e.g., clicks on an incorrectsentence/phrase, a “thunk” may be played, and incorrect answers may begrayed out. The correct sentence may be displayed, e.g., in blue text,in its correct position in the paragraph. As described above, in someembodiments, the white blank or color field may remain and may changesize as necessary to accommodate the sentence, and the paragraph textmay adjust as required. Additionally, a pause may be provided to allowthe student to read the paragraph.

Once the student has performed one of the stage 1 tasks described aboveone or more times, the student may perform a stage 2 task, as follows.

Stage 2: Page Building Trial Interaction: Task: Paragraph Sequencing

In this task the student may perform the following for each page in thecurrent passage. As above, the student may initiate trials in this taskvia the initiation button, e.g., the paw or OR button.

The paragraphs of a passage (or the current page in the passage) may bedisplayed in scrambled order, where, as noted above the presentationorder is fixed, not randomized, so that it will be the same every timethe trial is presented. Similar to the sentences in the stage 1 taskdescribed above, in one embodiment, a small empty box may display nextto each paragraph, where the boxes may highlight upon rollover, i.e.,upon selection by the user. Of course, as noted above, in someembodiments, the text of each response may itself be selectable andhighlighted.

An instruction may be presented asking or directing the student toselect the paragraph that should come next, e.g., first, second, . . .or last. As before, the sequence number (e.g., of the paragraph to beselected) may also appear in the instruction.

The student may then select one of the paragraphs, e.g., by clicking onthe box next to a paragraph, or, if the paragraph is selectable, theparagraph itself.

FIG. 79 is an exemplary screenshot wherein instructions 7902 arepresented directing the student to select a next (in this case, a first)paragraph from a plurality of displayed paragraphs 7904 to construct apage of a stimulus passage. As FIG. 79 indicates, the student isselecting the second paragraph from the plurality of paragraphs. FIG. 80is an exemplary screenshot wherein the previously selected paragraph isdisplayed in the page under construction, e.g., above the remainingparagraphs. In other words, the (correctly) selected paragraph 8002 hasbeen moved into a page display region of the screen. In someembodiments, the color of the selected paragraph may be changed, aswell, e.g., to green. As FIG. 80 also shows, a new instruction 8004 ispresented directing the student to select the second paragraph for thepage. As may be seen, the student has (correctly) selected the second(bottom) paragraph.

FIG. 81 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating the movement and displayof the selected paragraph of FIG. 80 in the page 8102, and presentationof an instruction 8104 directing the student to select the next (i.e.,third and last) paragraph for the page. As shown, the user has selectedthis last paragraph 8106 for addition to the page.

As with the sentence sequencing task, if the student successfullyselects the correct paragraph, the box next to the paragraph may changecolor, e.g., to yellow, and the sequence number may appear in the box,although other graphical indications may be used as desired. A “ding”may be played and points awarded. Additionally, the paragraph may bemoved to the correct position within the passage. Each paragraph ispreferably indented, but there may be no blank lines between paragraphsonce they are moved into the passages. The color of the paragraph may bechanged, e.g., to green, and the box may no longer appear next to theparagraph. The remaining paragraphs may be moved down on the screen,below the page that is being constructed. Note that in some embodiments,paragraphs may wrap across columns.

If this is the final paragraph, and if all paragraphs were sequencedcorrectly, then if bonus points are not earned, 1 ding may play andadditional points may be awarded. If bonus points are earned, then 3dings may play and additional points plus bonus points may be awarded.Otherwise, if this is not the final paragraph, the instruction maychange and the student may be asked to select the next paragraph insequence.

If the student selects the wrong paragraph, then a “thunk” may play, andthe incorrect paragraphs may be grayed out, including the boxes next tothe sentences. The text of the correct paragraph may be changed, e.g.,to blue. Additionally, the correct paragraph may be moved to the correctposition within the page. Each paragraph is preferably indented, butthere may be no blank lines between paragraphs once they are moved intothe page. The color of the paragraph (upon being moved) may be changed,e.g., to green, and the box may no longer appear next to the paragraph.The remaining paragraphs may be moved down on the screen, below the pagethat is being constructed. As noted above, in some embodiments,paragraphs may wrap across columns.

If this is the final paragraph in the page, a pause, e.g., for 3seconds, may be provided to allow the student to read the page of thepassage. Otherwise, if this is not the final paragraph in the page, theinstruction may be changed to ask or direct the student to select thenext paragraph in sequence. Note that all remaining paragraphs areavailable for selection.

The student may repeat the above interaction for each paragraph in thepage of the passage. The trial ends when all paragraphs are sequenced.Note that in one embodiment, the student may be required to sequence thefinal paragraph in the page, even though it is the only possibleselection.

Once the student has performed the stage 2 task described above one ormore times, the student may perform a stage 3 task, as follows.

Stage 3: Passage Comprehension Task: Passage Re-Read

In this stage 3 task, the student may be given the opportunity tore-read the entire passage in the correct sequence. If the page is thelast page of the final passage in the level, “The End” may appear at thebottom of the page.

Trial Interaction

As above, the student may initiate trials in this task via theinitiation button, e.g., the paw or OR button. The text of a page of thecurrent passage (e.g., just constructed in stage 2) may be displayed. A“done reading” button (or equivalent) may be displayed, e.g., allowingthe student to dismiss the screen. In one embodiment, the done readingbutton may change to an active state after a brief pause, e.g., 8seconds, i.e., after sufficient time for the student to read the page.The student may click the “done reading” button when finished readingthe page. The next page of the passage (if there is one) may bedisplayed, also with a done reading button.

FIG. 82 illustrates the passage re-read task, where, as may be seen, afirst page 8202 from the passage is displayed, along with a done readingbutton 8204 for dismissing the display. If there are further pages inthe passage, they may be presented as in FIG. 82 until all pages of theentire passage have been displayed. If no pages remain, the passage textmay disappear and the student may be presented with a firstcomprehension question (of the next task), as described below.

Task: Comprehension Questions

In this task, the student may be asked a number of questions regardingthe passage just read, and the student may select each answer from arespective plurality of possible responses.

Trial Interaction

In one embodiment, a question may be displayed, along with a number(e.g., 4) possible answer choices. The student may then select from thepossible answers to answer the question.

FIG. 83 is an exemplary screenshot illustrating presentation ofinstructions 8302 asking the student a question regarding the passagejust read. As FIG. 83 also shows, a plurality of possible answers 8304is displayed, where the student may select from the plurality of answersto answer the question. As may be seen, the student has (correctly)selected the second answer.

In stage 3 trials, if the student selects the correct response, e.g.,clicks on the correct answer to the question, then, as above, anappropriate indication may be provided, e.g., the box with the correctresponse may be highlighted, e.g., in yellow, a “ding” may play, andpoints may be awarded. If bonus points are awarded, 3 “dings” may beplayed.

If the student selects an incorrect response, an appropriate indicationmay be provided, e.g., as above, a “thunk” sound may be played, and thecorrect answer (or answer box) may be highlighted, e.g., in white.Additionally, a pause, e.g., for 3 seconds, may be provided to allow thestudent to read the correct response. In one embodiment, the (incorrect)selected response may change to a grayed out state.

The student may repeat the above interaction for each of a plurality ofquestions in the stage. At the end of the stage, the student may advanceto the next passage in the current level. After all passages in thelevel have been attempted, the student may repeat those passages forwhich passing criteria were not met, e.g., following the advancement andprogression rules outlined below.

Exemplary Content and Progression

The following presents an exemplary embodiment of a content set for theabove-described exercise (Quack Splash), although it should be notedthat the information is exemplary only, and is not intended to limit theexercise to any particular set of passages, sentences, progressionsequence, or criteria.

Overview

Pages *Est. Est. Total per Para. per Sentence Vocab & Non- Passage WordsLevel passage page length topic Fiction Fiction Length per level 1 1 3Short Easy 4 0 135 540 2 1 5 Medium Easy 0 4 315 1260 3 2 5 Long Easy 40 630 2520 4 2 5 Medium Hard 0 4 630 2520 5 3 5 Long Hard 0 4 945 378036 178 8 12 10620 *Assuming an average of 4.5 sentences per paragraphfor levels 1, 2, and 4, and 3.5 sentences per paragraph for levels 3 &5.

In one embodiment, sentences of various lengths may be used in theexercise. For example, short sentences may have a maximum length of 14words and an average length of 10 words (±1), across the passage; mediumsentences may have a maximum length of 18 words and average length of 14words (±1), across the passage; and long sentences may have an averagelength of 16 words (±1), across the passage.

Similarly, the topics covered in the various passages may be of varyingdifficulty. For example, easy topics may be familiar and interesting tochildren and young adults (e.g., 9-15 years old) from a wide range ofcultural and educational backgrounds, while hard topics may still be ageappropriate, but may originate from more unusual or academic domains.

The vocabulary used in the exercise may also differ in difficulty. Forexample, easy words may include 5th grade terms and below, e.g., perMogilner. Hard words may include 6th grade terms per Mogilner, andAcademic terms appropriate for elementary through middle school. Wordsfrom sorting and analogies tasks, e.g., from other exercises, describedabove, may be used whenever appropriate.

As noted above, as the student progresses through the exercise, trialsmay be performed directed to various tasks in a plurality of stages andat various levels. The following chart provides one exemplary embodimentof level progression, where the correspondence between the levels andthe various tasks described above is shown.

Items and Trials by Task

Tasks (per passage) Total Sentence Compre- trials Passages orderParagraph Paragraph hension per Level Per Level trials cloze trialsorder trials trials level 1 4 1 2 1 5 36 2 4 2 3 1 5 44 3 4 2–4 6–8 2 776 4 4 4 6 2 7 76 5 4 6 9 3 10 112 68  104  36 136 344

In some embodiments, each content level may include either fiction ornonfiction content about a single topic. The passages may be presentedin a set sequence emulating chapters that make up a book or sectionsthat make up an article. However, each passage may be modular enough tomake sense on its own if presented in isolation (e.g., for re-entryfollowing plateau-based transitions).

An important secondary goal for this exercise may include buildingskills in understanding figurative language. Each passage may thusinclude some figurative language (e.g., metaphor, simile, metonymy,synechdoche, irony, conventional idioms, etc.) and paragraph completiontrials and comprehension questions that relate to figurative language.

In one embodiment, the comprehension questions of stage 3 may includeany of the following types of questions (among others):

1. Literal facts & details;

2. Figurative language;

3. Sequential (e.g., cause & effect, temporal or spatial sequence); and

4. Inferential/Integrative (e.g., overall theme, moral, main ideas,author's intent, vocabulary introduced in the passage,identifying/assessing arguments & evidence presented).

Progression:

Terms: The following presents an exemplary set of terms used herein withrespect to the exercise (Quack Splash), as well as the organization andcontent of progression levels the student works through while performingthe exercise.

Term General definition Exercise-specific definition Trial Stimulus andresponse Stage 1, Paragraph Building: options presented to a ParagraphCloze Task: student; response is Stimulus = paragraph w/missing sentenceor advancement evaluated 4 response options: sentence or words SentenceSequencing: Stimulus = sentences displayed in scrambled order Response:select sentences in correct order, all responses are evaluated; allresponses must be correct to evaluate trial as correct Stage 2, PageBuilding: Paragraph Sequencing: Stimulus = paragraphs displayed inscrambled order Response: select paragraphs in correct order, allresponses are evaluated; all responses must be correct to evaluate trialas correct Stage 3, Passage Comprehension: Comprehension Questions:Stimulus = Question (multiple choice) 4 response options Unit group oftrials to be All the trials in a Passage: evaluated for The size of theunit differs depending on the advancement Level. (see Content OverviewTable above) Each level contains 4 passages. There are a total of 20units in the exercise. Stage One of multiple activities Each passage isprogressed through in 3 Stages: performed by a student ParagraphBuilding, Page Building, Passage on the same or a related Comprehensioncontent set Task Type of activity Stage 1: 2 types of tasks, ParagraphCloze and performed by student in a Sentence Sequencing trial; can bemultiple Stage 2: 1 task - Paragraph Sequencing tasks within a stageStage 3: 2 tasks: Passage Re-Read and Comprehension Questions Passage Ablock of related text. Each level is made up of 4 passages, varying insize and difficulty. The passages within a level are related as thoughchapters in a story (fiction) or sections of an article (nonfiction).Page The portion of the text Passages vary from 1–3 pages. block thatfits on a single screen. Level Grouping of sets Levels 1–5: groupedbased on Passage Length, designated as Vocabulary, Topic, and SentenceLength. (see hierarchically equivalent Content Overview table above).based on one or more shared attributes Level Attributes by which setsPassage Length: 1 to 3 “pages”, ranging from Attributes are grouped intolevels approx. 135 words–945 words. (or sublevels). The Sentence Length:Ave. number of words in attributes and the passage: hierarchy assignedto the Short, Medium, Long attributes may differ Topic: difficulty levelof topic across exercises. Easy, Hard Vocabulary: difficulty level ofvocabulary in content set Easy, Hard

Order of Progression

In some embodiments, the student may progress through the content in theorder in which it is shown in the Order of Progression chart below,although other progressions are also contemplated. The passages withineach level may be displayed in the sequence shown in the chart. Notethat trials within each stage may be presented in random order, whilesequencing trials may present each item within the trial in a fixedorder.

Stage 1 Stage 2 Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Stage 3 TrialsLevel 1 Passage 1 1–3 NA NA 1 NA NA 1–5 Passage 2 1–3 NA NA 1 NA NA 1–5Passage 3 1–3 NA NA 1 NA NA 1–5 Passage 4 1–3 NA NA 1 NA NA 1–5 Level 2Passage 1 1–5 NA NA 1 NA NA 1–5 Passage 2 1–5 NA NA 1 NA NA 1–5 Passage3 1–5 NA NA 1 NA NA 1–5 Passage 4 1–5 NA NA 1 NA NA 1–5 Level 3 Passage1 1–5 1–5 NA 1 1 NA 1–7 Passage 2 1–5 1–5 NA 1 1 NA 1–7 Passage 3 1–51–5 NA 1 1 NA 1–7 Passage 4 1–5 1–5 NA 1 1 NA 1–7 Level 4 Passage 1 1–51–5 NA 1 1 NA 1–7 Passage 2 1–5 1–5 NA 1 1 NA 1–7 Passage 3 1–5 1–5 NA 11 NA 1–7 Passage 4 1–5 1–5 NA 1 1 NA 1–7 Level 5 Passage 1 1–5 1–5 1–5 11 1  1–10 Passage 2 1–5 1–5 1–5 1 1 1  1–10 Passage 3 1–5 1–5 1–5 1 1 1 1–10 Passage 4 1–5 1–5 1–5 1 1 1  1–10

Evaluation of Trial

Sentence and Paragraph Sequencing: Each response may be evaluated ascorrect or incorrect, but the trial may not be evaluated as correctunless all sentences or paragraphs in the trial are sequenced correctly.The trial may be considered incorrect as soon as an incorrect responseis made. As noted above, the student may be required to sequence thefinal item even though there is only one possible correct answer.

Paragraph Completion and Comprehension Questions: The trial may beevaluated as correct if the student clicks on the correct response.

Evaluation of Unit

A unit may refer to the total number of trials directed to a particularpassage, thus if there are multiple pages in a passage, the unitincludes trials for all the pages of the passage. This number may varyfor each level, as described in the chart below. The number of correcttrials for each stage may also be tracked.

Trials per Trials per: Trials per Trials per Unit Trials per Level Stage1 Stage 2 Stage 3 (Passage) Level 1 3 1 5 9 36 2 5 1 5 11 44 3 10 2 7 1976 4 10 2 7 19 76 5 15 3 10 28 112

A unit may refer to the total number of trials directed to a particularpassage, thus if there are multiple pages in a passage, the unitincludes trials for all the pages of the passage. This number may varyfor each level, as described in the chart below. The number of correcttrials for each stage may also be tracked.

Advancement

A unit (passage) may be evaluated as “passed” if the student meets theadvancement criteria for each stage in the passage. If the student failsto meet the criteria for any stage, the unit (passage) may be considered“failed.”

After the final passage within the level, the student may repeat allpassages that were failed, beginning at stage 1 of the first failedpassage.

Advancement Criteria per Stage/Level Level Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 1 3/31/1 4/5 2 4/5 1/1 4/5 3  9/10 2/2 6/7 4  9/10 2/2 6/7 5 13/15 3/3  9/10

Plateau Based Transition

If the student has not met the criteria for all passages within a levelafter a specified number of attempts at passing each passage (e.g.,three attempts), the student may transition to the next level. At theend of the exercise, after the student has either passed all passage orhad the specified number of attempts to pass each passage, the failedpassages may be repeated following the same progression and advancementrules as during the initial presentation.

Exit and Re-entry:

In stage 1 and stage 2, the student may time out or exit at any time,except when a trial is in progress. Re-entry may return the student tothe point from which he/she exited. Since a sequencing task is countedas one trial, the student may not exit during a sequencing task. Instage 3, the student may time out or exit at any time, except when atrial is in progress. Re-entry may return the student to the passagere-read task, i.e., the re-presentation of the passage. Upon completingthe re-read of the passage, the student may begin at the firstpreviously unanswered question.

Progress Markers

Progress through the exercise (comparable to percent-through) may bemarked by the addition markers, e.g., a total of 5 markers. For example,each marker may be awarded after 20% of content is passed.

End of Exercise

The exercise may end when the student has met passing criteria in allunits. It may then return to the wrapper, e.g., the startup screen, viaa “Good Job” screen.

FIG. 84—Method For Building Skills in Constructing and OrganizingMultiple-Paragraph Stories and Expository Passages

FIG. 84 flowcharts a computer-implemented method for building skills inconstructing and organizing multiple-paragraph stories and expositorypassages, including skills in understanding and using figurativelanguage, via a computing device, according to one embodiment. Morespecifically, the method is directed to performance of units in theQuack Splash exercise. Note that the method of FIG. 84 is applicable to,and may include, embodiments of the method of FIG. 71 (and vice versa),and the description below may refer to various figures and passagesdirected to that method for brevity. Moreover, any of the aspectsdescribed above with respect to the method of FIG. 71 may be consideredapplicable to the method of FIG. 84 (and vice versa). As noted above, invarious embodiments, some of the method elements described may beperformed concurrently, in a different order than described, or may beomitted. Additional method elements may be performed as desired.

Turning now to FIG. 84, as may be seen, in 8402, stage 1, directed toparagraph building, may be initiated. In some embodiments, this mayinclude determining and setting the current level, e.g., to a next levelin the exercise, or, at the start of the exercise, a first level (see,e.g., the Order of Progression chart above). Note that the method ofFIG. 84 particularly addresses progression through stages for passagesat a current level, and does not describe inter-level progression,although embodiments of such progression are described in the chartsabove.

In 8404, the passages for the current stage/level may be randomized. Inother words, in some embodiments, the passages used for the trials maybe presented in random order.

A plurality of trials may then be performed in stage 1, as indicated in8406, 8408, and 8410, where, for example, each trial may be performedaccording to either the sentence ordering task, or the paragraph clozetask, both of which are described above, with reference to FIGS. 73-78.As noted above, in some embodiments, the student may be given up to aspecified number of tries to pass each trial, e.g., three tries.

In 8411, a determination may be made as to whether the level is greaterthan level 1. If the level is greater than level 1, then additionaltrials may be performed, e.g., two more trials may be performed, asindicated in 8412 and 8414, where, as with the previous stage 1 trials,each trial may involve one of the stage 1 tasks, i.e., the sentenceordering task, or the paragraph cloze task.

In 8415, a determination may be made as to whether the current page isthe last page in the passage, and, if not, then in 8416, the next pagein the passage may be determined or selected, and the method may returnto 8402, as indicated, and the method may continue as described above.In other words, trials directed to the next page of the passage may beperformed.

If in 8415, it is determined that the current page is the last page ofthe passage, then in 8418, the unit may be evaluated, e.g., the stage 1unit at the current level may be evaluated. For example, depending onthe current level, the student's performance for trials in the unit maybe compared to passing criteria, e.g., passing 3 of 3 trials in level 1,and so forth, per the advancement criteria chart presented above.

In 8420, a trial (or more than one trial) in stage 2, directed toparagraph ordering, may be performed, where, as described above, theparagraphs of the passage of stage 1 may be presented in scrambledorder, and which the student may be required to order into a coherentpage of the current passage. Note that this trial may begin with thefirst page of the current passage. FIGS. 79-82, described above,illustrate an exemplary stage 2 trial.

In 8421, a determination may be made as to whether the current page isthe last page in the current passage, and if not, then in 8422, the nextpage in the current passage may be determined or selected, and themethod may proceed to 8420, and continue as described above, i.e., astage 2 paragraph ordering trial may be performed with respect to thenext page in the passage.

If in 8421 it is determined that the current page is the last page inthe passage, then in 8424 the student's performance in stage 2 may beevaluated, and the method may proceed to 8426, described below.

In 8426, one or more trials in stage 3, directed to comprehension of thepassage from stage 2 (and stage 1) may be performed. For example, asdescribed above, first, the entire passage may be re-presented to thestudent to read (again), where each page is displayed and dismissed witha done reading button. Then, a plurality of questions directed to thepassage may be asked of the student, where the questions are preferablyin random order. As described above, for each question the student mayselect from a respective plurality, e.g., four, possible answers, andthe correctness of the selected answer determined. Exemplary embodimentsof stage 3 trials are illustrated in FIGS. 82 and 83.

In 8428, the student's performance in stage 3 may be evaluated, e.g.,per the advancement criteria chart above.

In 8429, a determination may be made as to whether passing criteria havebeen met in all stages for the passage, e.g., where stages 1, 2, and 3have all been passed. If so, then in 8430, the next passage may bedetermined or selected, and the method may proceed to 8402, and continueas described above.

If passing criteria have not been met in all the stages for the passage,then in 8431, a determination may be made as to whether a specifiednumber (e.g., three) of attempts have been made to pass all stages forthe passage, and if not, the passage may be marked or indicated to berepeated at the end of the current level, as indicated in 8432, and thenext passage may be determined or selected, as indicated in 8436, afterwhich the method may proceed to 8402, and continue as described above.

If in 8431, it is determined that the specified number of attempts atpassing all stages for the passage have been made, then the passage maybe marked or indicated to be repeated at the end of the exercise, asindicated in 8434, and the next passage may be determined or selected,as indicated in 8436, after which the method may proceed to 8402, andcontinue as described above.

Thus, various embodiments of the methods described above may buildskills in constructing and organizing multiple-paragraph stories andexpository passages, including skills in understanding and usingfigurative language, in the student.

Embodiments of the systems and methods described above with respect tothe various exercises presented may develop cognitive skills in thestudent, e.g., reading and comprehension skills, via a computing device.As noted above, the particular embodiments described meant to beexemplary, and are not meant to limit the invention to any specific datasets, organization, or progression sequences.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

1. A computer-implemented method for building vocabulary skills andimproving accuracy and fluency in critical thinking and abstractreasoning in a student, utilizing a computing device to present stimuliand to record responses, the method comprising: providing an analogy setcomprising a plurality of analogies; displaying an incomplete analogyvia a computing device, wherein the analogy is missing a word;presenting a plurality of words to the student, wherein one of theplurality of words includes the missing word of the incomplete analogy;requiring the student to select a word from the plurality of words tocomplete the incomplete analogy; determining if the student selected theword correctly; and repeating said displaying, said presenting, saidrequiring, and said determining for each analogy in the analogy set;wherein said repeating builds vocabulary skills and improves accuracyand fluency in critical thinking and abstract reasoning in the student.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of analogies comprisesanalogies in multiple categories, the method further comprising:displaying a subset of the multiple categories to the student; andreceiving user input selecting a first category from the subset; whereinsaid performing comprises performing a specified number of trials withrespect to analogies in the first category.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising: after performing the specified number of trials withrespect to analogies in the first category, displaying the subset of themultiple categories to the student, but with previously selectedcategories unavailable for selection; receiving user input selecting asecond category from the subset; and performing a specified number oftrials with respect to analogies in the second category.
 4. The methodof claim 3, further comprising: performing said displaying, saidreceiving user input, and said performing, for successive categoriesfrom the multiple categories until trials for each of the multiplecategories have been completed; wherein said performing said displaying,said receiving user input, and said performing, for successivecategories from the multiple categories until trials for each of themultiple categories have been completed compose performing a unit instage
 1. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying ananalogy via the computing device, wherein the analogy has a categoryfrom plurality of categories; presenting a set of categories to thestudent, wherein one of the set of categories is the category of theanalogy; requiring the student to select a category for the analogy fromthe set of categories; determining if the student selected the categorycorrectly; and repeating said displaying the analogy, said presentingthe set of categories, said requiring the student to select a category,and said determining if the student selected the category correctly foreach analogy in the analogy set; wherein said repeating said displayingthe analogy, said presenting the set of categories, said requiring thestudent to select a category, and said determining if the studentselected the category correctly for each analogy builds vocabularyskills and improves accuracy and fluency in critical thinking andabstract reasoning in the student.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein theanalogy set is comprised in a plurality of analogy sets, the methodfurther comprising: performing said repeating said displaying theanalogy, said presenting the set of categories, said requiring thestudent to select a category, and said determining if the studentselected the category correctly for each of at least a subset of analogysets in the plurality of analogy sets.
 7. The method of claim 6, whereinsaid displaying the analogy, said presenting the set of categories, saidrequiring the student to select a category, and said determining if thestudent selected the category correctly compose performing a trial instage
 2. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein a unit comprises a smallestgroup of trials to be evaluated for advancement, and wherein passing theunit comprises the student correctly completing a specified percentageof the analogies in the unit.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein saiddisplaying an incomplete analogy via a computing device, said presentinga plurality of words to the student, said requiring the student toselect a word from the plurality of words to complete the incompleteanalogy, and said determining if the student selected the word correctlycompose performing a trial in stage
 1. 10. The method of claim 9,wherein each analogy set from the plurality of analogy sets isassociated with a unit directed to analogies from the analogy set; andwherein said performing said repeating said displaying the analogy, saidpresenting the set of categories, said requiring the student to select acategory, and said determining if the student selected the categorycorrectly for each of at least a subset of analogy sets in the pluralityof analogy sets comprises: performing trials with respect to analogiesfrom immediately previously passed units of stage 1 at a level greaterthan a specified level.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the analogyset is comprised in a plurality of analogy sets, the method furthercomprising: performing said repeating for each analogy set in theplurality of analogy sets.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein saiddisplaying, said presenting, said requiring, and said determining foreach analogy compose performing a trial for each analogy.
 13. The methodof claim 12, wherein a unit comprises a smallest group of trials to beevaluated for advancement, and wherein passing the unit comprises thestudent correctly completing a specified percentage of the analogies inthe unit.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein passing the unit furthercomprises: passing a specified percentage of analogies in each of a setof categories in the unit.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein eachanalogy set from the plurality of analogy sets is associated with a unitdirected to analogies from the analogy set; and wherein said performingsaid repeating for each analogy set in the plurality of analogy setscomprises: performing trials in each unit of a plurality of units foreach level of a plurality of levels.
 16. The method of claim 15, whereinan open unit comprises a unit that has not been passed; and wherein allunits are initially open units, and wherein said performing trials ineach unit of a plurality of units for each level of a plurality oflevels comprises: performing trials in each open unit of the pluralityof units for each level of the plurality of levels.
 17. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising: if the student fails a unit, repeating theunit until: the student passes the unit; or the student fails the unit aspecified number of times.
 18. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising: if the student fails the unit a specified number of times,keeping the unit open for later presentation to the student; andperforming a next open unit.
 19. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: performing said repeating said displaying, said presenting,said requiring, and said determining for each analogy in the analogy setin an iterative manner to build vocabulary skills and improve accuracyand fluency in critical thinking and abstract reasoning in the student.20. The method of claim 19, wherein said performing said repeating isperformed over a plurality of sessions, and wherein each successivesession begins approximately where a previous session ends.
 21. Themethod of claim 20, wherein the sessions occur a specified number timeseach day, for a specified number of days.
 22. The method of claim 1,wherein said displaying, said presenting, and said requiring areperformed via a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on a display ofthe computing device.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the GUIdisplays two or more of: a student indicator; a time indicator; aninitiation button, whereby the student invokes performing a unit; and ascore indicator.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the GUI furtherdisplays a main character, wherein the main character performs saidpresenting the analogy.
 25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:indicating if the selected word is correct.
 26. The method of claim 25,wherein said indicating if the selected word is correct comprises one ormore of: presenting a respective sound indicating correctness orincorrectness of the selected word; presenting a respective graphicalindication of correctness or incorrectness of the selected word; andawarding points based on the correctness of the selected word.
 27. Themethod of claim 1, wherein sounds are presented to the student viaheadphones attached to the computing device.
 28. A memory mediumcomprising program instructions for building vocabulary skills andimproving accuracy and fluency in critical thinking and abstractreasoning in a student, utilizing a computing device to present stimuliand to record responses, wherein the program instructions are executableby a processor to perform: providing an analogy set comprising aplurality of analogies; displaying an incomplete analogy via a computingdevice, wherein the analogy is missing a word; presenting a plurality ofwords to the student, wherein one of the plurality of words includes themissing word of the incomplete analogy; requiring the student to selecta word from the plurality of words to complete the incomplete analogy;determining if the student selected the word correctly; and repeatingsaid displaying, said presenting, said requiring, and said determiningfor each analogy in the analogy set; wherein said repeating buildsvocabulary skills and improves accuracy and fluency in critical thinkingand abstract reasoning in the student.